Science Class
by The Phantom of the Death Star
Summary: Last year, I was stuck with an English Teacher from hell. This year, it's not the teacher… but the students. Return characters, long forgotten friends, deep rivalries, and an unwelcome ex plague the world of FF High School!
1. Back To School Sales Drive Me Crazy

Science Class

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~CHAPTER 1~

Back to School Sales Drive Me Crazy

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Disclaimer: None of the Final Fantasy characters who reside within the boundaries of this story belong to me... Nix, Citra and Mrs. Barker, however, are original characters.

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Note: Just in case you didn't notice, this is the sequel my story _The English Teacher_. Sorry. I don't think it's _completely_ necessary to read that one before reading this, but it's recommended... So, on with the story.

* * *

From top of the school, to bottom of the school. I held, once again, a small, square piece of paper with the names of teachers on it.

"_I've got English, with Mrs. Randal." Everyone in the vicinity gave me a look of pity._

I smiled, recalling the first day of school last year. This year was going to be just a bit different. The school was completely new and my Final Fantasy friends and I were all what is called in the biz, "_Fresh Meat_".

I was wandering the second floor, trying to get my bearings when I saw what amounted to a commotion ahead of me.

"I wonder if I can still fly…" Sephiroth muttered, staring hungrily out the window that was really more like a large rectangular hole that the building's architects had decided to blow in the cement wall in a fit of destruction.

"Don't try it," Lucrecia suggested harshly, grabbing his arm.

Sephiroth looked down at her. "Awww, but _Mom…_" he whined in a tone burdened with an undue amount of sarcasm.

Several students in the crowded, jostling vicinity looked around, saw who was speaking, and either assumed it was an inside joke, or began pondering things that really ought not to be pondered.

I, on the other hand, tore past the confused groups of people to get to my old friends. "OMIGOD! Hi!" I hugged Sephiroth overenthusiastically in greeting.

"Uh… hello, Nix." He said and gave me an odd look once I let go of him.

"OMIGOD! Vincent got a haircut!" Instead of being nearly waist-length, it was chopped to his jaw line and shorter in back, like it had been during his work with the Turks.

"I hate it," Vincent said at the same time that Lucrecia said, "It's cute!"

Vincent looked at her as if his confidence in her sanity had just slipped a few notches.

"We can see your face now." She explained, brushing a chunk of his dark bangs out from between his eyes. It fell right back into the same place.

"It's pointless, you know," he informed her, "It won't do anything. Seriously."

"Hair gel," I mouthed at Sephiroth, miming spiking my hair. I had to dodge behind Lucrecia to stop Vincent from hitting me.

Once this little escapade had been smoothed over I handed Lucrecia a copy of my schedule and asked her what classes they all had.

She scanned the list. "Science for one…" She looked up. "Vincent and Sephiroth are in our class too."

"Sweet."

"So's Aerith," Sephiroth said with an oddly omniscient smirk.

"I'm in your English class…" Lucrecia told me.

The bell rang. "I'll see you then, I guess!" I grabbed my schedule back and waved, heading to wherever I was heading for my first class.

* * *

"Heya, Lucca!!" I said, sitting next to Lucrecia happily in the grammatically decorated English classroom an hour or so later.

"English together again?"

"Looks like it."

"Hopefully we'll have a better teach—" Her mouth dropped open when she saw the teacher. The woman was dressed in all black and her face was covered in piercings. Several tattoos were also visible on her arms and the upper part of her chest.

"Oh, yah…" I said, smiling and looking at Lucrecia. "We're gonna have a _hell_ of a time this year…"

* * *

Several boring periods later, I was headed to science. I had actually stared blankly at the campus map long enough for the fact that the rooms are numbered chronologically from east to west to sink in. I was able to find my science room with surprisingly little trouble. Ahead of me another student was reading each room label carefully and cross-referencing this information with his class schedule.

"Hey, Citra!"

One of my old friends, his black hair sticking up in all sorts of odd ways, startled and turned to face me with an expression with far too much guilt for my liking.

"Uh… Hi, Nix…" he said extremely sheepishly.

"Lost?" I asked him, teasing.

"I'm not lost! I'm… directionally compromised!"

I laughed. "Where're you headed?"

"Science, Barker. You?"

"Same! Follow." I said making an ethereal motion for him to follow me. He hesitated, but followed me.

I was almost appalled at the small size of the science classroom and the dingy appearance it had. I was distracted, however, by what looked like a black chocobo's backside sticking up in the middle of the room.

"Omigod! It's Zack!" I shouted, running up and hugging him quickly.

"Woa, hello!" He said holding his hands up with a scared look on his face.

Sephiroth came up behind me, laughing. "Hello, Zack. This is Nix. Ignore her, she's always like this."

"Not always…" I argued. I suddenly felt very short between the two of them, so I turned to leave the conversation and look for anyone else I knew. However, when I finally found someone my own height, I got dragged back to the same two exceedingly tall SOLDIERs.

"You know each other?" Zack asked, looking at Aerith and Sephiroth in turn.

"Yeah..." Sephiroth said, looking at her warily, "we're on... _speaking terms_..."

Aerith and I both laughed, remembering how viciously Aerith had gotten on his case on several occasions the previous year, not to mention the summer.

"HEYA!!" Yuffie had appeared out of nowhere and hugged me, then left to greet other class members.

"Hi, Yuffie...?"Aerith said, looking at the place where the ninja girl had been a moment before.

"Yuffie..." Zack scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Hey, is that..." Zack asked, looking around furiously, "That little punk!"

I looked at Aerith, who seemed concerned, then at Sephiroth who seemed amused. "Uh... different Yuffie, Zack."

"You sure?" Zack asked, but Aerith dragged the conversation in another direction before poor Zack could start thinking too hard.

I turned to see who else was in the classroom and noticed someone in front of me who, considering who it was, was _way_ too close for comfort.

When I saw him I did a complete double-take. "Holy Shi—!" I leapt backwards so forcefully that I toppled a chair and myself with it. "...va." Sephiroth had graciously stepped aside to allow me to hit the hard, tiled floor instead of him.

I looked up at Sephiroth, who was glaring down at Hojo. Sephiroth looked like he was about to say something and Hojo looked oddly intimidated and extremely out-of-context.

The teacher walked in at this point and seemed to be staring at us, weather that was due to the completely eccentric hair on several of the people standing around me or the fact that I was on the ground tangled in a chair with Hojo standing over me was a mystery.

As I got up hurriedly, rubbing the back of my head, she called the class to order. "Everyone, sit down. Anywhere, I don't care."

There was a bit of a scramble to find desirable seats, like the music had just stopped in a game of musical chairs. I looked around for somewhere to sit.

Sephiroth was sitting at the furthest corner of the room with a comfortable bubble of emptiness around him, punctuated only by scared looks from a few of the more timid students.

I made eye contact with him and he shrugged, so I sat down carefully in the seat in front of him. "Where's…?"

Sephiroth jerked his head at the door. "Out there. She refused to come in... Now I know why."

"More observant than the rest of us, i'n' she?"

He nodded. Then, in response to my concerned look, shrugged. I stood up and headed for the door turning back for a moment to say, "Cover for me, 'kay?"

He nodded. "Tell her I'll kill him if she wants me to," he said flatly.

I left the room, pondering whether this signified a generous offer, or a relapse back into Sephiroth's more violent nature.

* * *

Author Note: Yeah, looks like I'm going to write this. Ah, well. But, hey! I think this first chapter kicks ass on English Teacher's first chapter! As I always say, _practice facilitates an asymptotic approach towards perfect._


	2. Evil Happens That’s Why We Call It Life

~CHAPTER 2~

Evil Happens. That's Why We Call It Life.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Square Enix, Sephiroth does. …Wait… I think I'm confused …

* * *

I found Lucrecia and Vincent together in the hallway outside the classroom. She was crying with her face buried in the front of the jacket he was wearing. Vincent looked helpless and completely confused, his back pinned against a locker.

"Did you see…?" I mouthed.

He shook his head and shrugged slightly. "I have no idea," he mouthed back.

I grimaced, and mouthed, "Hojo."

Vincent stared, and his livid expression caused me to assume that he'd understood.

I nodded.

"Is she scared?"

"Well obviously!" I made an extravagant hand motion in her direction to accompany the statement.

Vincent bent his head down, whispered comfortingly to her and stroked the back of her hair in the fashion that one would use to try to soothe a frightened cat.

"Lucrecia?" I asked, "You okay?"

She looked up at me angrily, "Do I look okay?"

"No."

She returned to her sobbing.

Vincent shrugged at me.

I tried again, knowing that my natural tactlessness with Lucrecia would eventually win out, and that when she had yelled at me she would feel better. "Is he really that bad?"

The glare this time was so reminiscent of Sephiroth that I took a half-step backwards and even Vincent looked at her warily. "_You_ tell _me_, Nix." She said, "You know the story well enough—as you can't seem to help but _constantly_ remind me_. You tell me_."

The degree of venom in the voice of normally so sweet Lucrecia was the most poignant answer to my question she could have given. There was a resolute, protective look in Vincent's eye as he looked at Lucrecia. She was not crying now, watching coldly for my response.

I was spared answering and giving my friend a valid reason to sentence me to death by two people walking through the doors to the hallway.

"Damn it… I told you we should have gone up that flight of stairs…" said one of them. His hair was brown and almost shoulder-length and he was wearing a long red leather jacket and gloves.

"No, we're right here…" the other student said, pointing to a place on the map in the first's hand.

"But the girl we asked said it was on the second floor."

"She must have lied."

"We need to ask them where we are."

"No, I know where we are."

By this time Vincent, Lucrecia and I were all staring at them.

"Are you looking for Barker, science?" I guessed.

Genesis nodded.

I pointed over my shoulder to the door of the room.

"Ha," Angeal said, having won the argument.

They walked into the classroom.

"Who are they?" Lucrecia asked, momentarily forgetting both her terror and her fury with me.

"A couple of First Class SOLDIERs…" I responded. "This is certainly gonna be interesting…" I paused, pondering for a moment, then looked back at Lucrecia, "So... were you going to yell at me?"

Evidently not. Her rage had dissipated and her emotionally driven thought patterns seemed to have been accordingly kicked out of their gear. She had relinquished the front of Vincent's jacket and was leaning into him sidewise instead, facing me.

"No," she said, then shook her head. "I don't know... I have no idea..."

She sounded like she was slipping back into hysteria land, so before Vincent had to submit to becoming a human tissue again, I checked the time on my phone.

"Seriously, Lucrecia. Class is gonna start soon, come on."

"We'll say we were lost," she said, "It's the first day..."

"Nu-uh. My bag is in there, so I have no excuse. And I'm not leaving you out here like this!"

She looked actually fearful now, and looked up at Vincent for support.

"Come on Lucrecia." He picked up both their bags and put them over one shoulder. "You'll be okay. I promise."

"What's the worst that could happen? Seriously?"

Both of them glared at me, so I shut up.

A few last students were trickling in and any of them who tried to invade Sephiroth's corner received a glare so vicious that the corner retained a stable population of three—himself, Genesis and Angeal.

I looked around and noted that Hojo had evidently been glared into the exact opposite corner of the room, nearest the teacher's desk.

Sephiroth gave a subtle nod that seemed to imply that we would be allowed into his precious corner with impunity.

"Y'okay?" Sephiroth asked Lucrecia, carefully trying to look as though he didn't care.

Instead of answering, Lucrecia snatched her bag from Vincent and began looking through it feverishly as though there was homework due.

It was growing increasingly difficult to stay shutted-up in the midst of the awkward silence, so, to avoid saying something stupid that would cause a confrontation, I walked over to another good friend of mine, Tarquin Igneous. I'd known him for a few years and had rarely ever seen him so troubled. He was staring at Hojo.

"What's the problem, Tarq?"

"Him…" He breathed.

"Hojo," I informed him quietly. "What've _you_ got against him?"

The one teal eye I could see from my angle flicked to where Lucrecia was sitting, or, more accurately, cowering.

"You hate him because he made a girl you don't even know cry?! Tarquin, you chivalrous jackass…"

"Then am I wrong to have developed such a hatred for him?" Tarquin turned his head to look at me, giving me the creepy feeling that I was being analyzed on a molecular level.

"No… I support you fully in hating him… But, leave it to me and Vincent for now."

"I have met Vincent," Tarquin said, seeming satisfied with that and settling back into the attitude of a hunting cat, still staring at Hojo.

I rolled my eyes and left to comfort Lucrecia. She was refusing to look at the far half of the classroom.

"Lucrecia, you know how I've got a mortal, irrational fear of Jack Skellington, right? Well, I had to watch _Nightmare Before Christmas_ a while back and—"

"Tell me this is going somewhere, Nix."

"It is! I promise! But anyhow, I was all worked up about how creepy Jack was, but when I actually watched the movie it wasn't so bad, 'cause most of why I was scared was because of how scared I was of being scared... Savvy?"

She looked a bit confused, but nodded anyway.

The bell signaling that anyone who walked into class now was officially late rang.

"Alright, is everyone _finally _here?" The teacher asked. "'Cause if you're not, I don't care." This silenced the class effectively.

She started calling role, balking on only a few names.

"Sephiroth... Crescent?"

She gave our corner a very strange look, then glanced at Hojo.

"That's... uh... me." Sephiroth said awkwardly, trying and failing to look inconspicuous.

As soon as role had been completely taken I raised my hand.

"Yes..." She looked at her role sheet to try to find my name.

"I'm Nicole Brent." I told her. "But, um, I just wanted to warn you… Some of us in this class are the remnants of the class that played the leading role in ridding the school system of a legendarily evil English teacher."

The blonde teacher looked at me shrewdly. "Did this teacher happen to be Randal?"

I nodded.

She looked thrilled. "You're the ones who scared off Randal?"

"Actually, we kinda got her arrested."

"I know… I heard the story... I had her as a teacher once. I _hated _her… Extra credit points to everyone from that class. Who's here?"

I pointed to Sephiroth in the corner, Vincent and Lucrecia at the table next to me, Aerith a few tables away from us and Yuffie next to her.

"Only six of you?"

"Uh…Yeah. The rest of us... moved."

"Umm…Where, exactly?"

"…To Japan." I nodded.

"Really."

"Yep."

She looked at me in disbelief, but my never-fail cheesy Barbie smile held out. Several people laughed mockingly at me.

"Right. Okay..." She sighed and shook her head, looking around at the extremely quirky segment of the student body who happened to be present. I think it may have been that moment when she realized what she was in for, or it might have been a similar moment few days later. "As you may or may not know, I am Mrs. Barker and this is a biology class. Ergo the decoration." She made a sweeping motion towards the many posters of microorganisms, cellular life functions and genetics adorning the walls. "So, I'm going to attempt to teach you science. If you really wanna ditch this class, go ahead. My only rule is once you're here, you stay. I won't have you leaving to flit all over the school."

She went on to say that whether or not we wanted to, we still had to follow the school rules and her rules, no matter how arbitrary they may or may not be. She had a syllabus page that she wanted handed out, and was about to have Hojo hand it out as he was closest when Tarquin volunteered elegantly. I could feel the environment of our half of the room relax.

I poked Lucrecia in the shoulder and she started violently.

"What, Nix?" She snapped.

"Uh… I was trying to distract you."

She glared slightly sidewise at me.

"You're freaking out."

"I'm _not_ freaking out."

"You're a bad liar."

Tarquin approached us with a dignified air that made even his current menial task seem like a respectable, honorable and even desirable vocation for a well-bred gentleman of intelligence. He gave Vincent a respectful nod in greeting, then looked at Lucrecia concernedly.

"Are you alright?"

She brushed her hair out of her face and shook her head. "I-I'm fine."

Tarquin and I exchanged a look that said plainly that we were both in agreement about her severe lack of skill in lying.

Tarquin returned his gaze to Lucrecia. "Dear, if there is anything I can do—"

"I _will be_ fine," she insisted.

Tarquin glanced at Vincent, who was watching him warily, and left quietly with another bow-like nod and a gentile rustle of papers.

Mrs. Barker cleared her throat to silence the smattering of chatter that had begun to surface during her speech's momentary pause.

"I want you to read those, sign them and bring them back." She looked around and noticed that the chatter had not really died off. She rolled her eyes and raised her voice. "Since I'm not about to assign real homework on the first day and I can't teach you anything in fifteen minutes... feel free to screw off for the rest of class."

Almost as soon as she had finished saying this Yuffie was sitting on my desk, feet swinging, chatting away about the jerks she had met thus far today who were from the other junior high school.

I looked at Lucrecia, who looked like the ceiling had done her some personal injustice.

"You sure you're gonna be okay?" I asked.

Yuffie looked at her curiously. "What's up? Is something wrong?"

Lucrecia glared at Yuffie then put her face in her hands. Vincent put an arm around her, and looked at Yuffie meaningfully, using his other hand to make a slashing motion across his neck.

I rolled my eyes and turned around to speak to Genesis and Angeal rather than watch Yuffie be gored.

"Heya."

Genesis, seeming bored with the conversations around him, had pulled out a small book bound in leather. The word "LOVELESS" was branded into the front in stunning calligraphy gilt in casually faded gold. Based on the movement of his eyes, he was reading it.

"Loveless?" I asked, interested to strike up conversation with someone new.

He glared up at me like I had disturbed the peace of his little internal library, then returned resolutely to his reading.

"What!? Are you mad at me or something?! What did I do?"

He was still silent, making a show of pretending not to have heard me.

"Fiiine," I said, "I'll talk to Angeal, 'cause he's _way_ cooler than you." True to this, I turned to Angeal. "Hi."

"Hello..." Angeal said awkwardly.

"Uh... I'm Nix, if nobody told you."

"I was warned about you, actually."

"'_Warned,_' you say? Who was talking about me behind my back?"

"Sephiroth."

"Oh. Well, he's an ass anyway, so I'll forgive him." Angeal seemed confused, and Genesis was looking at me over the top of LOVELESS, obviously trying to look disinterested.

"So, what'd he say about me?"

"He said that I should avoid you at all costs, if I wanted to keep my sanity…"

"Good advice," I said with an approving nod. "Genesis seems to have taken it to heart."

Genesis's eyes flicked back down to the text of LOVELESS.

Angeal looked behind me, over my shoulder. "Hello, Zack."

"Heya."

I looked around to see that Zack was approaching the table. "Hey, Zack!" I said.

He stood at the table next to where I was and asked Angeal, "How'd you get here?"

Angeal shrugged. "I don't know. I'm assuming you don't either."

Zack shook his head.

"I know."

We all turned to stare at Genesis.

Genesis snapped LOVELESS shut and looked meaningfully off into the distance. "There is always a reason behind things, and this is no exception. The others—call them 'first wave', shall we?—were all bound by a common thread: Sephiroth. Sephiroth was the one who originally manipulated the Lifestream and everyone's connections to _him_ brought them along as well."

My head was reeling with not only the information, but with the realization of its source. Genesis knew things about the other's arrival that I had never heard.

"To find out who caused this 'second wave', let's say, we need to find the common thread among _us_."

"You're well informed."

He smiled faintly. "I try."

"Sephiroth told you all this?"

"I asked Aerith for her opinion as well and from that synthesized my conclusions."

I looked around. Sephiroth, Aerith and Vincent were talking. Yuffie had vanished. Vincent still had an arm across Lucrecia's shoulders. I was almost angry with Aerith for not keeping me informed, but I wasn't going to severely begrudge the Ancient who could kill me with a 4 foot stick of wood.

Genesis went back to reading and I settled comfortably into a discussion with Zack about something that I seem to remember was vaguely school related and distinctly dangerous.

I felt like we were being watched and when I looked up I noticed that the teacher was, as a matter of fact, observing us carefully.

I looked down at the desk. "Are we really that strange? Seriously?"

Zack looked at her too and seemed disconcerted by her stare.

"She's been watching Sephiroth the whole class." Genesis said, turning a page casually and not looking up.

How Genesis knew that without having looked up I had no idea, but he was right. Mrs. Barker's eyes only strayed from Sephiroth to look at the rest of the class occasionally, and only after we noticed she was staring.

I quickly opened my new spiral and tore a corner off a page. I scribbled "_You're being watched."_ on it and tossed it at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth pulled the paper scrap out of his hair and read it. He looked around the room and finally saw Mrs. Barker, who had turned to work on her computer.

"_What, the teacher?_"

"_Yeah, she's been watching you all class._"

"_Creep._"

"_No kidding._"

There was no more space on the scrap of paper, but Sephiroth was more wary of his back for the rest of class.

* * *

Author Note: Now let's watch and see if all the Howard Johnson advertisements come back!


	3. Slowly but Surely Losing Faith in Sanity

~CHAPTER 3~

Slowly but Surely Losing Faith in the Existence of Sanity.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Square Enix, and therefore do not have the ability to modify gravity at will... unfortunately.

* * *

The bell finally rang to signal the end of class and the students all started to get up, readying to go to their next classes.

"Wait," Mrs. Barker said, suddenly stern. "There are a few of you I want to talk to... Stay behind. Sephiroth, Vincent, Lucrecia, Aerith, Yuffie, Zack, Genesis, Angeal and... Hojo." She was disconcertingly able to look at each of them as she said their names, not even looking at the class list to find them. It struck me for the first time that she could very well be familiar with the characters.

The rest of the class left, but I hung back by the doorway, pretending to fix the clasps on my bag and refasten my slogan buttons.

"Best of luck to those poor wretches from me, right?" Tarquin breathed as he passed me, not looking down to make eye contact with me.

I hovered in the doorway, hoping not to be noticed and shooed off, but in vain.

"Who's she?" Mrs. Barker asked, nodding at me curtly.

"She's... our friend..." Vincent said hesetantly.

At this I dashed back into the classroom and grabbed Lucrecia's hand in the best-friend-y way that only teenage girls can pull off.

Mrs. Barker looked at me searchingly. "I see you're 'in' on this little scheme as well."

"'Scheme'?" I asked.

Mrs. Barker glared at me, then made a sweeping radar-search of all of us, focusing again on Sephiroth. "_Crescent_?" She asked incredulously.

"Oh no, not again," Sephiroth said, putting a hand loosely over his eyes. "This is what I was trying to avoid…"

"Don't cry, Sephiroth."

He glared at me and I moved slightly to stand behind Lucrecia.

"'_Again_'?" She asked. "You've been asked about your falsified names before?"

I looked at Lucrecia, then at the rest of the group. Everyone was wearing expressions ranging from aloof surprise to scandalized shock. Even Hojo, standing far from the rest of the group, was looking at the teacher curiously.

"You think they're fake names?" I asked.

"Not you..." She looked at the class list, "Nicole Brent, right?"

I nodded.

"But everyone else… Sephiroth?" She looked at him. "Really? I'm not stupid."

"Shit…" Vincent muttered.

"Vincent!"

"Sorry…"

Mrs. Barker shook her head. "It's a good trick. Must have taken a lot of effort, but I want to know your real names. Now." She glared at Yuffie.

"Hey, hey! I'm Yuffie!!" She said, waving her hands frantically. "See? Really!" She waved her arms awkwardly. "I can't show you my ninja ID, 'cause then I'd have to kill you…"

Mrs. Barker shook her head

"Wait! I have an idea!! Uh… Do something only you could do. Sephiroth is the only one who can wield Masemune, right?!" I grabbed onto one of Sephiroth's shoulders overenthusiastically.

"Nix, don't touch me."

"Sorry." I removed my hands and folded them behind me sheepishly.

"Actually," Genesis said, examining his gloves distractedly, "The Masemune… well, it's not _quite _so amazing, is it? A competent Third Class could probably heft it. Didn't that girl from Nebelheim—?" Genesis's little oration was cut off by Sephiroth tackling him.

The brawl only lasted a very quick five seconds before Sephiroth emerged with Genesis's head firmly restrained.

"Sephiroth, please stop pulling my hair… I will apologize…"

Sephiroth leaned his head down and snarled something in Genesis's ear. The only word I could hear even faintly was "Apples."

"Now, you are dead." Genesis said calmly. With the disturbing sound of ripping hair, he twisted violently out of the headlock.

"Sephiroth!"

The battle ceased immediately as Sephiroth backed away from Genesis, looking at Lucrecia in a half-defiant way.

Genesis was still glaring at him warily.

"Apologize."

Sephiroth muttered something quietly that could have equally been an apology or a curse.

Lucrecia pointed to the multitude of overturned tables littering half the classroom. "Fix it."

Sephiroth turned to survey the rather extensive damage.

"You too, Genesis."

Genesis shrugged his coat back onto his shoulder and looked away from Lucrecia haughtily, standing casually with more weight on one foot.

Sephiroth quietly and methodically started righting the tables. When Yuffie began to help it took only moments for the room to be back in order.

Lucrecia nodded to Yuffie approvingly. "Thank you."

I turned to Mrs. Barker with my hands balled into fists on my hips. "Well? Do you believe us yet?"

"No." She glowered at me. "But you should get out of here before you're late to your next class."

"We'll say we all got lost." I said, looking sideways at Lucrecia. Everyone left, except me.

Lucrecia hung back in the doorway, looking back at me. "Nix? Are you coming…?"

I had raised my hand, looking at Mrs. Barker expectantly.

"...We're not in class. You don't have to raise your hand." She said.

"I know." I didn't lower my hand.

"Fine. What, Nicole?"

"Uh... first, I'd be much obliged If you'd call me 'Nix', and uh..." I pondered how to pose my question. "Does he have a first name?"

She bit her lip and looked down at the class list. "He's registered as... Daryl."

"What!?" I said, then I started laughing hard enough that I had to be escorted to lunch.

* * *

I got on the bus that afternoon to find that I recognized a large portion of the people there. "Omigod! You guys are on this bus!?!"

Vincent looked at me almost angrily. "How many times have you said 'omigod' today?"

"Um…" I bit my lip, counting mentally. "Seventeen? Yah, seventeen."

I sat in the empty seat in front of him and Lucrecia. Sephiroth was in the seat in front of me, Genesis in the seat across from me and Angeal behind him.

Genesis was reading again.

"Genesis, you're gonna get sick reading on the bus."

"I'll be fine." Next page.

"You sure? I can't last five minutes..."

"I don't get motion sickness." Next page.

"... Whatever."

Yuffie dashed onto the bus just before the doors closed and sat next to me so enthusiastically that I had to virtually duck for cover under the window to avoid being sat on.

"What'd I miss?!" She asked as the bus jerked to life.

"Uh... I've said 'Omigod' seventeen times today and I think Genesis is going to get motion sickness reading on the bus."

There was a soft rustle of a turning page from Genesis's seat.

"Nix, don't push Genesis." Sephiroth advised.

"Why not?"

"Because if you're wrong, he will never forgive you." Angeal answered. "And if you're right…"

"You'll get puke all over your shoes." Sephiroth said, not turning around. I could hear his smirk in his voice.

Genesis shut Loveless with a loud cracking noise, glaring at Sephiroth dangerously.

I looked around quickly for a distraction. "Wait a minute, where's Zack?" I asked, suddenly realizing that I couldn't see his hair sticking up anywhere in the bus.

I looked up at Aerith, who was sitting towards the front of the bus. From the seat next to her rose a half-limp gloved hand. She giggled. Zack was apparently attempting to use the bench-seats of the bus to take a nap.

I chuckled and looked around at the few other students I didn't recognize. A pair of girls in the very front seat kept glancing back at Genesis.

I fell back happily into a conversation with Yuffie about nothing in particular.

* * *

"So, you guys are living here too?" I asked Angeal.

"Well... It's kinda assumed that they're staying at The Manor with the rest of us, right?" Sephiroth said, putting his backpack over a shoulder and aloofly leaping off the bus.

_The Manor_ was what we had begun to call the place.

I looked down the path lined by wild trees, the path I had pondered with curiosity. It seemed like so long ago when Sephiroth had forbidden me to follow the group. The path was even more of a chilling sight to me now. The story had been told to me in sporadic, discombobulated, self-contradicting pieces, but its significance was clear.

"_I figured it out!" Reeve had said. _

"_Figured what out?" Lucrecia had asked._

"_How to kill a lv. 60, probably…" Nanaki had said, yawning, tail swinging in lazy arcs of flame._

"_No, really," Reeve had said, dashing into the main room where the rest were from the tech room where he had been. "I know whose house this is!!"_

_He had looked flustered and scared, according to Yuffie, but Nanaki said he was wearing a scary grin. Either way he had dashed back into his technology room. "The house isn't registered to anyone, right?" General assent. "But someone's registered to the house…_

"_Thirty years ago, this address was listed as the residence of one Mrs. Agatha Randal…" _

"Nix?"

"Ah! Sorry, I was having a flashback…"

Lucrecia shook her head disparagingly. "I'll see you tomorrow, Nix."

"Good luck!" I said, waving, watching her leave with a critical eye.

* * *

Author Note: There is a fatal flaw in my scheme. I'm trying to put chapters up every weekend, but I do not write quite so consistently. Expect my punctuality to fizzle out before chapter ten and forgive me when it does…


	4. Method to the Madness Or, You Know, Not

~CHAPTER 4~

Method to the Madness. Or… You Know, Not.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own the musical Wicked or the Final Fantasy characters… But the Final Fantasy characters are going to try defying gravity!

* * *

"Right, today we're gonna be learning about science." Mrs. Barker said in her oddly bored voice.

"No! Really!?" I asked sarcastically.

"I know, I was shocked too," Mrs. Barker said equally sarcastically. "Science in a science class. Go figure. But, on a more serious note, I really can't just let you loose like a troupe of monkeys to go break glass, smear feces on paper and call it science."

I laughed quietly at this, but I was evidently the only one who was both so immature and okay enough with that immaturity to let on.

"There's a method. It's called—you'll never guess—The Scientific Method."

Mrs. Barker had the student who was closest to the lights switch them out. She turned on the projector and had us copy notes.

"Lucca?"

"What?"

"… Nothing. Just… You're awfully quiet."

"You're surprised?"

"Not really."

I paused to scribble down the notes that were presented on the board. I glanced over to give an appraising look to Lucrecia's elegantly efficient shorthand.

"Well, do you have a plan?"

"Nix, do I look like I have a plan?"

"I dunno, I've never seen you with a plan before."

"Nix!"

Mrs. Barker looked at us sternly to silence us. I put my head down, scribbling faster than usual to catch up with the pace of the notes.

"So you're just gonna lay low? Do… nothing?"

"I suppose. Do you have something better to suggest?"

"Well, as you know, my plans usually involve an overly direct approach."

"Like running into a brick wall, for instance?"

"Hey, don't rub it in. My nose still hurts. I thought it was platform nine and three quarters, okay?"

She sighed and shook her head. "So you want me to go, what, yell at him?"

"Well… Yeah. Somethin' like that."

"And what does that achieve, exactly?"

"Um… Making you feel better…?"

"Right." She rolled her eyes. "I'll pass on that."

I rolled my eyes too and looked up at the screen to see the notes. I had missed a slide, so I started copying Lucrecia's notes in an attempt to catch up.

"What does that say?" I asked, pointing with the back of the pencil.

"'Manipulated variable.' Pay _attention_, Nix!"

"I was _trying_ to, but _you_ had to go and bring up the wall thing!" I hissed.

She sighed. "You're going to get hurt one of these days, Nix."

I pouted, trying to catch back up on the notes on my own.

* * *

Mrs. Barker finished giving us notes and set us to work on some busy, useless assignment or another that had a vague, tangential connection to the scientific method.

I stared for a moment at the pale green page, looked up at Mrs. Barker, working at her computer, glanced across the room at the corner where Hojo was hunched over the assignment, then looked for a moment at Lucrecia. I stood, abandoning my paper with little more than my name on it and started across the room.

"What are you doing?" Lucrecia asked me accusatorily.

"What's it look like I'm doing?"

"Nix…!"

"I'm going to talk to him."

"No! Nix, don't. Please?"

I looked over my shoulder at her resolutely. "You won't, so I will. Needs to be done, I think. So I'll do it." I turned away, grimacing slightly. I wasn't entirely comfortable with disobeying a direct order from Lucrecia, even if I considered my actions for the best.

I strode to the desk where he was working, slamming my hands on the surface of the desk, causing him to look up at me, disgruntled by the interruption.

"Who do you think you are, comin' in here like ya own the place?" I snarled.

He looked up at me and pushed his glasses higher on his nose arrogantly.

I bit my lip, only stopping because I thought I might draw blood. Every movement—the way he adjusted his glasses, the way his head was tilted, the mildly disbelieving expression with one eyebrow raised—irked me on a deep, close to personal level.

"Oh, and who are you, then?" He responded coolly.

I snarled almost involuntarily. His voice solidified and set my instinctive resentment. Were I a cat, my back would have been arched, fur bristling and fangs bared.

"Your worst nightmare."

He scoffed at the comment, looking bitterly in another direction.

Mrs. Barker's voice interrupted the furiously charged silence. "To Hell with the Masquerade," She commented suddenly, looking over the edge of her diet coke, eyes flicking between me and Hojo. "This is going to be a good show…"

"What's'at mean?" I asked, looking up, vestige of a glower still on my face.

She gave me a slightly crooked grin. "Means I don't care that your friends are all fakers if I get to watch this… _fiasco_."

I rolled my eyes and looked darkly across the classroom at nothing in particular. I caught sight of Lucrecia. She wasn't looking remotely in my direction, seemingly deliberately.

I turned suddenly to face the conversation again and pointed a finger in his face to get his attention. "I may not have a _personal_ vendetta, but I'll do everything within my power to make your life hell."

"Will you?" He was leaning backwards and glaring at my finger.

"You watch your back," I breathed. "And you better stay away."

He rolled his eyes. "Leave me alone."

"Fine. Don't listen. Not like I care. _Your funeral._" I turned and walked away, conscious of the look Sephiroth was giving me.

I sat down at the table in front of him.

"Nix, you know what I told you about turning your back…"

"Yeah, I know! How am I supposed to walk away without turning my back!?"

"You don't walk away… Until your enemy is dead."

Zack looked around. "Yeah, but you've got to _make sure_ it's dead!" he advised hurriedly.

Angeal laughed. Sephiroth put a hand across his face in despair and shame.

I rolled my eyes, grabbed my previously forsaken worksheet and started scribbling.

A few minutes later, Lucrecia looked over at me darkly. "So, what exactly did you achieve, Nix?" Lucrecia asked scathingly.

"I am more prepared to create a plan of action henceforth," I responded.

Lucrecia rolled her eyes.

I put my pencil on the table next to my paper. I was finished with the assignment. I folded my arms, glaring across the room and reminding myself or Tarquin's behavior the previous day.

I glared harder, attempting to use some travesty of Syth Powers to set Hojo's hair on fire.

"Nix, would you stop?"

"Stop what?"

"Glaring."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I'm tryin' to light his hair on fire."

She rolled her eyes. "What if he looks over here?"

"I'll glare harder."

"Then I'm not sitting next to you." True to her word, she got up and left, sitting instead near Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal.

Vincent watched her leave, then looked at me. "You pissed her off?"

"Yeah."

"Nice job." He said sarcastically. He left to sit with Lucrecia again, leaving me as the only person at the table.

"Loathing," I breathed flatly to no one in particular, "unadulterated loathing."

I continued to glare until the end of class.

-----

The next day, Lucrecia found me during the break before science. She had a hand over half of her face.

"Y'okay?" I asked, concerned.

"Yah, I'm fine…" she said automatically.

"You are not 'fine', my dear. What is wrong?" Tarquin asked. He had appeared magically the moment he had noticed Lucrecia's distress.

"I—" Tarquin was looking into her face searchingly and she seemed intimidated, so she looked at me. "I'm scared. I don't know… I'm not going to class today. I just… I wanted you to tell me what happens… Bring the homework and things."

Tarquin looked like he was ready to let her do it.

"What is _this_?! Lucrecia is cutting class? Nu-uh. You're _coming_!" I grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the science room, Tarquin bringing up the rear of the procession.

"Nix has your best interests at heart. She really does."

"Well, she has an odd way of showing it…"

* * *

We got to the classroom well ahead of the beginning of class. We were the first ones there. Even Mrs. Barker was in her office. Lucrecia sat down in the back corner, looking stunned and preoccupied.

I didn't know what to say, so I looked at Tarquin, usually a magician with words. He shrugged at me. He didn't know Lucrecia or Hojo and only knew the Final Fantasy series vaguely through me. He was as at a loss as I was.

The door of the classroom opened. "Lucrecia?" Vincent looked into the room, looking perplexed. His expression cleared when he saw her and he advanced farther into the room. "Lucrecia—?" His confusion returned. "I thought you weren't coming?"

She glared at me. "I _wasn't_ coming, I was _forced_ to come."

"Well, I'm glad you're here." Mrs. Barker walked out of her office towards her computer. "We're doing a lab today and you can't make it up."

Lucrecia glared at her. "But I… I can't…"

I looked at Mrs. Barker, slightly confused "It's, like, the third day of school. We're doing a lab already?"

"Deal with it," was her response.

Vincent had an arm around Lucrecia and was asking her if she was alright and getting the same "I'm fine" crap she always gave me.

"I really think you will be surprised by your own bravery…" Tarquin told her, trying to be comforting.

She considered his words, but shook her head, leaning into Vincent for security.

Mrs. Barker was looking at Lucrecia thoughtfully. She went to her computer and brought up what looked like an excel spreadsheet, modifying something.

I was silent, worrying that my words would only make the situation worse. When Hojo slunk into the room I automatically glared, but he was obviously trying to keep a low profile, so I ignored him politely.

Once most of the class was present, Mrs. Barker called us to order. "So. Lab today." Mrs. Barker announced. "You're going to be working in pairs," she said, "And, I'm sorry, but I'm choosing them." Several students groaned and there were disparaging looks across the room at friends.

"Lucrecia… and Sephiroth are group one." She said, carefully watching their reactions. Sephiroth stretched aloofly, looking a bit like a cat and Lucrecia looked at him shrewdly, as though trying to read the motion for more than it was worth.

"Ansel?" A student with a dark, haunting appearance looked up. "You'll be working with Maverick. Group two."

The two of them looked across the room, sizing each other up.

"Nix…"

I looked up at her and she was looking straight at me. I realized she had remembered to use my nickname. She was smirking at me, deliberately leaving a long, dramatic pause. "You'll work with Daryl." I stared at Mrs. Barker in shock.

Lucrecia was staring at me equally stunned.

I glanced across the room and saw a contortedly furious expression on Hojo's face.

* * *

Author Note: The scene in there where Nix is being obnoxious at Hojo and starts being really nasty? I think it may be superfluous to say how sick I am of the song "What Is This Feeling?" Form _Wicked_. I listened to it, like, a hundred times to write that scene.


	5. 50 percent chance of Science

~CHAPTER 5~

50 percent chance of Science, 42 percent chance of rain and 15 percent chance of world obliteration.

* * *

Disclaimer: If you still think I own Square Enix, please go read my other disclaimers…

* * *

I lifted my backpack and put it heavily on the desk in front of me.

"Lucrecia?" I asked, glaring at Hojo across the room, "Permission to cause mayhem, disorder, depravity, depredation, and general lawlessness?"

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

I folded my arms on top of my backpack and rested my head on them casually as though ready to fall asleep, still glaring across the room.

Mrs. Barker instructed us to pick up the paper with the procedure on it and report to our numbered lab stations.

I glared at her when I went to her desk to get my copy.

"What?"

"What do you think?" I said snappishly.

She laughed at me. Then lifted her head to address the class, "Some of you…" She said carefully, watching our reactions with an amused air, "Well, I just want to see how you get along."

"Evil woman," I breathed as I retreated to my assigned lab station. Lucrecia was looking up at Sephiroth with an expression that wavered on the hairline edge between affection and distain.

I took a breath before getting to the lab station, deciding then to behave civilly so as to try to actually complete the lab.

It was about proteins and catalysts. I brought the paper and my composition notebook to the lab station.

Hojo had already started setting up for the lab as per the lab instructions. I watched for a moment to make sure he didn't mess anything up, then realized that he probably knew what he was doing better than I did and promptly became bored. So I observed the other groups cynically. It was actually rather amusing.

Morgan's lab partner, Leo, had somehow fallen asleep on their lab area in the short space of intervening time. Morgan poked him several times, but he did not move.

"Morgan, I think he's dead." I called across the room to her.

She whacked him on the head with a heavy science textbook and he finally jolted awake, his gold-brown eyes wide, but dazed. He promptly began fixing his forward-combed sandy-colored hair and not listening to Morgan telling him what to get for the lab.

I was distracted from watching them, however, because Hojo seemed creeped out by the conversation at the lab table next to ours.

Maverick dropped a chunk of potato into hydrochloric acid. "EXPLOSION!"

Ansel shook his head sadly. "No explosion."

Maverick looked devastated, his heavily made-up eyes wide. "No explosion?!"

"No explosion, only bubbles." They both watched the test tube fizz softly.

"…Hee, hee…. Bubbles…."

I cleared my throat. "Anyhow, I'll go get the liver…."

Hojo looked at me like I'd caught the disease, so I decided to just leave. I crossed the room to get the liver gleefully. We only needed to get three pieces out of it, but I grabbed the biggest chunk anyway. I was supposed to put it on a paper towel for sanitation purposes, but I picked it up with my bare hands instead. I returned to my lab station, poking the raw liver, giggling and saying, "It's squishy!" as I went.

Leo returned to where Morgan was waiting slightly impatiently for the delivery of their chunk of cow liver. He was carrying it far too close to his mouth for most of the class's comfort.

Hojo was looking at me funny again, but this time I decided to make it worse rather than better. I mocked licking my liver-juice-covered fingers.

"That's disgusting…"

"Mmmm… tastes like blood…" I said, smiling.

Leo slunk across the room again to get the hydrochloric acid he had apparently forgotten last time.

Hojo shook his head and looked down at his paper. "I was wrong… Completely annoying…"

"If you think I'm annoying now… what did you think before?"

He silently gave me a dark sidelong "I'm not telling" kind of look.

I chuckled knowingly. "You've regressed beautifully."

He gave me a "what's that supposed to mean?" look from under his thick glasses.

"Acting like a proper pissy pre-teen." I had to dodge a flying composition book after that. I trotted across the classroom and retrieved it for him just like a good doggy.

Leo seemed to be mesmerized by the erratically bouncing boiling meat chunk. "When it's done can I eat it?" He asked Morgan.

I laughed at Leo, and then put the composition notebook in front of Hojo, grinning as broadly as a Cheshire Cat. One of the corners of the book was bent in, but other than that it was fine. He glared at me as he opened it and started writing. For some curious reason, he was completely absorbed in writing whatever it was he was writing.

I watched him with an expression of disgust for a moment before I was struck by a brilliant idea. I carefully reached into my backpack and silently retrieved a pair of glasses. The lenses of these glasses were not actually lenses, meaning they were really just panes of clear plastic that wouldn't distort what I saw through them. I put them on, simultaneously donning a superior, almost pompous expression. For the few minutes I was able to continue the charade, I was collecting more and more sets of eyes. Some people laughed quietly when I adjusted my pair of glasses at the same time and in the same fashion that Hojo did. I caught sight of Lucrecia and Sephiroth. Lucrecia looked severely disapproving and Sephiroth looked extremely amused.

Hojo suddenly turned to look at me. I snapped out of the impersonation quickly, looking at him warily. "We need to do the second part of the lab."

I nodded once. "Right-o." I took the glasses off and put them on the counter next to me. He glared as I dropped the chunk of liver into the beaker and lit the flame under it confidently. I watched as the liver chunk bouncing around amusingly in the boiling water. "Look it, it's changing color!" I pointed.

Hojo pulled a face.

"Are you vegetarian?" I asked, mimicking a polite but curious six-year-old.

"No."

"Oh." I looked off into space dazedly, pondering for a moment. "Well, that explains a lot, doesn't it?"

He looked at me in mild confusion and I laughed bitterly. I flipped open my own composition book and wrote down the necessary observations, doodling a sketch of each of the meat chunks to pass time.

I noticed peripherally that Hojo had picked up my fake glasses and was examining them.

"Hey, hey! Watch it!" I barked angrily, snatching my glasses back. "Or we'll use _you_ as the lab rat next time!" I threatened.

He rolled his eyes, recognizing the emptiness of the threat. I took a paper towel from the lab station and started cleaning every square centimeter of the glasses that he could possibly have touched with the hydrochloric acid.

Mrs. Barker said that as soon as the lab was finished, we had to go get the post-lab assignment.

I scribbled down my last observation quickly and closed the composition book with a gentile whoosh sound. "Go get it," I ordered him casually.

He looked at me in disbelief. "No. You get it."

"Hey, I got everything else!"

He just glared at me, arms folded in defiance.

"Lab—rat!" I reminded him. I looked away thoughtfully and tried the phrase out again. "Lab rat." It was rather comfortable to say. Far more comfortable to say than his name.

"Labrat, then," I said, looking at him in mild self-satisfaction. "I like it."

He looked like I was speaking a language he didn't understand. My expression darkened again as I remembered what we had been arguing about. It was obvious he was going to stand his ground, so I folded my arms haughtily, gave a last glare of defiance and when it was returned with equal vehemence, I gave up and stalked off to get the paper.

I sighed. "Blah, blah, blah, 'women's work'. Mlah." I mocked, snatching the paper.

Tarquin looked at me in surprise. "Did Daryl really say that to you?"

"Naw, I was makin' it up. Wouldn't put it past him though. Sexist jerk."

"Is he really?" Tarquin asked, incredulous now.

I shrugged. "Dunno." I started back to the lab station.

Tarquin looked like he was going to say something, but stopped himself hesitantly.

* * *

Hojo was staring at the post-lab assignment perplexedly. It was in a format that knocked-off the standardized test we were supposed to pass to graduate high school. It was assigned to us as practice.

"'Why was this combination of protein and catalyst used as the example in this experiment?' That's a ridiculous question." I breathed looking disgustedly over Hojo's shoulder at the paper. The disgust muscles in my face were getting really tired. "Because it's easily obtainable? Because the test-writer felt like it? Because there is a 42 percent chance of rain on Tuesday? I dunno…"

Hojo rolled his eyes at me yet again and scribbled down the first answer I'd given in his fascinating but entirely illegible handwriting.

The class kept working on their assignments, and the class was having, I'm sure, a relatively peaceful time taking the aggravating pseudo-test until I started shouting.

"I'm NOT wrong! Just because it's the right answer doesn't mean it's a _good enough_ answer!"

"And why's that?"

"B'cuze the test graders are terrible, evil, mean, yucky, horrible people!!"

He looked at me almost as though he couldn't believe what I'd said.

"You're being lazy," I accused.

"I know what I'm doing."

I let out a disdainful and growl-like breath. "Maybe in your world, but high school operates on different standards; different moral standards, different psychological standards and different scientific standards. You're going to have to learn the new rules. Sink or swim."

He rolled his eyes again.

"Shut up!"

"I didn't say anything."

"You know what I mean!" I yelled, my voice cracking emphatically.

Mrs. Barker walked up to us and stood between us, which may have been a wise plan, as I was on the brink of violence.

"He started it!" I insisted, pointing.

"Stop being an idiot," he snarled leaning slightly around Mrs. Barker to address me.

"I'm not being an idiot you freaking idiot!!" I yelled.

"Nix!" Mrs. Barker was looking at me disapprovingly and I slunk back to my desk, metaphorical tail between my legs, still snarling over my shoulder.

Based on Mrs. Barker's stern look at me, I was definitely on time-out.

* * *

"Nix that was… frankly, stupid."

"Thanks, Lucrecia. Glad to be appreciated."

"Nix, I'm serious."

"I know. So am I!"

"Nix!"

I pouted. I was slightly sick of being treated like a misbehaving two-year-old. "He wasn't listening to me."

She laughed coldly. "He _doesn't_ listen."

"But I was right! Right?"

"Not in _his_ world…" She looked away from me and her profile was sharp and dark, with an almost wistful air. The resemblance to Sephiroth was striking in her dusky expression.

* * *

The bell rang to let us out of class and there was a clamor for the door. I watched as Hojo quickly collected his things and started to leave. I looked down. My numerous, small possessions were scattered across the classroom. I would not be able to follow quickly enough.

"Go ahead. I'll meet up with you in a bit," I told Lucrecia.

She left with a glance back.

I picked up a rectangular, pink, eraser, hefted it for a second, and then threw it at Hojo with the maximum force possible for a weakling teenage girl to put behind a particularly badly planned and executed throw.

The eraser bounced off the back of his head and he turned to glare at me.

I glared back, silently hoping Mrs. Barker had not seen me. "You know I said I don't have a personal grudge against you? Well, I do now."

He turned around and left coldly.

* * *

I was lounging outside on the stairs that led to the second floor at lunch with Vincent and Lucrecia. Lucrecia and I were next to each other and Vincent was sitting on the step above Lucrecia, her back resting against his knee. He was absent-mindedly stroking her shoulder.

Lucrecia and I were talking about our classes.

"Who does he think he is?" Vincent snarled suddenly, preoccupied. Lucrecia and I looked up, our conversation having been interrupted.

"Who? Hojo?" I asked.

"No." Vincent looked like he had no idea why I would think that. "That… Tarquin guy."

I couldn't help but laugh at this. "Oh-hoh… Tarquin. I see… Well… he's… He called himself '_l'ange de gardien'_ or something once," I told Vincent. "'The guardian angel.'"

Vincent looked unconvinced, but Lucrecia seemed curious.

"Guardian of who?"

"Women." I shook my head. "He can be… very affectionate? …But it's not really… personal?" I shook my head again, this time in despair. "That makes it sound really bad..."

Lucrecia laughed softly, but Vincent seemed to still be angry.

* * *

Author Note:

You: Nix, that adds up to 107 percent.

Nix: I reject your reality and substitute my own.


	6. Well Enough Wants to Be Left Alone

~CHAPTER 6~

Whoever "Well Enough" Is, I'm Sure They Want to Be Left Alone.

* * *

Disclaimer: Seriously though, I don't own or claim to own by writing this any of the characters who do not belong to me. Tarquin, Guy, Nix, Mrs. Barker and a couple other people I can't remember at the moment are my only originals. Other than that, NOT MINE.

* * *

"Hey! Hey, Tarquin!"

A student with long, disheveled and slightly spiky dark hair looked up at me, an equally dark expression on his face. I had interrupted his studying.

"Somethin' up, Tarq?" I asked.

Tarquin ignored me, returning to his work. His friend, Guy, who was lounging in the chair next to him answered instead. "He's worried our little friend Hojo is going to show up at his Bi-Monthly Nerd Convention."

"Guy, if you _don't mind_ it is a school-sanctioned Computer Club. And just because I'm president of it doesn't mean it's _mine_." Tarquin corrected snappishly. He didn't look up from what he was writing as he spoke.

"Whatever. He's miffed because Hojo could easily take his position as Head Geek."

Tarquin stopped this time and even put his pen down to look defiantly into his friend's mischievous eyes. "I am worried, in reality, that he will unveil some, uh… slightly unlawful activities which occur during our meetings." Tarquin and Guy were glaring at each other, not blinking. "However," His voice took on a mocking quality. "If it came down to a true test of who is as you say, 'Head Geek'… I would still win." Tarquin leaned back to show his cocky self-confidence for a moment, then went back to his work.

There was a tense silent moment. "I look forward to this 'epic battle'… When you say 'illegal' you mean …?"

Tarquin made an exaggerated eye-rolling head movement. "Did you have something to say, Nix?"

"Yeah, actually. I came in the name of Hermes. Vincent says 'Back off.'"

Tarquin cockled his head slightly to one side the better to look at me quizzically.

"Overstepping _certain boundaries_ again?" Guy asked, coolly mocking.

I nodded resolutely. "Tarquin, you're a flirt."

"I am not a _flirt_." Tarquin said indignantly, tossing his shoulders back and swelling his chest proudly in a way that reminded me of an angered pigeon.

I caught Guy's eye and we agreed silently that Tarquin had very odd standards as to what constitutes flirting.

"…Anyhow, I brought the message. I've got to go. Be careful, Tarq." I gave a single wave and left Guy and Tarquin to their argument about flirting. It was probably the most interesting thing they had discussed since the time I had dragged their conversation into the realm of the scientifically quantifiable effect of owning a cat on the ability to get a date last year in my physics class.

* * *

The moment everyone who was expected to arrive had gotten into the classroom, Mrs. Barker began her lesson. "Right," She said, looking around at us unenthusiastically. "We're going to be reviewing the Scientific method, as it pertains to yesterday's lab." She sighed. "What was the purpose? Anyone remember?"

Ansel raised his hand and Mrs. Barker called on him.

"To boil pieces of cow liver?"

Mrs. Barker stared at him. She seemed to lose a great measure of her hope in our intelligence. "Anyone _else?_"

Lucrecia raised her hand hesitantly. "To… observe the effect of heat on the function of a catalyst." Each word in the phrase hit a consecutive step in the spectrum ascending from hesitant to bold.

"Yes," Mrs. Barker acknowledged. "Hypotheses. Anyone care to share?"

Yuffie raised her hand.

"Yuffie."

"I thought the one we didn't boil would fizz and the one we boiled wouldn't." She nodded, proud of herself.

"And why do you think that?"

Yuffie's pride faltered. "Uh… I guessed."

Mrs. Barker shrugged. "Did anyone think anything else?" Maverick raised his hand and Mrs. Barker called on him hesitantly.

"I thought it was going to explode," he said exuberantly.

She stared at him for a moment, then shrugged and muttered almost to herself. "Close enough…"

Ansel glared at Maverick, who responded by sticking his tongue out.

"Control variable?" Mrs. Barker asked before they had time to start a fight.

"Type of meat?"

"Yes… true."

"Temperature of the room?"

"Yes."

"Same lighting, same air content, same… number of people?"

"Uh… sure."

"Same phase of the moon!" I added enthusiastically.

Hojo glared across the room at me. "That is not controlled for."

"Yeah, actually, it is. We did the lab on the same day and ergo same lunar phase!" I said, indignantly.

Mrs. Barker looked like she wanted to say something.

"But it couldn't affect the experiment."

"Yes it could!"

"How?"

"The tides! Gravitational pull shifts with the moon!"

Most of the class looked like they were watching tennis.

"But—"

"What if we were doing an experiment on nocturnal flowers!? Huh? What then!? Owned!"

"It doesn't affect _this experiment_!"

"It could _hypothetically_!"

"STOP!" Mrs. Barker shouted. Once again, breaking up the fight before actual violence ensued. "Sure, it's not relevant," she said, looking at Hojo, "But it's still valid." She turned her gaze to me.

I hung my head. I was slightly abashed had having caused a major disturbance for the second day running.

"Nix, sit down."

I hadn't noticed I was standing. I sat down anyway, even more ashamedly now.

She was still watching me as she said, "And… sources of error?"

"Things blowing up!" Maverick blurted quickly.

Ansel chuckled and muttered something that sounded like "barrels!"

Mrs. Barker was looking at the two of them, eyebrows raised. "Okay… I'm not gonna ask."

"The cow that provided the liver could have had a genetic mutation affecting the production of proteins in its cells," Tarquin suggested lightly, "Incidentally, we don't even have evidence that it was in fact a cow—Or that it was even fauna native to Earth..."

"Yeah! Doubt reality!" I cheered, laughing.

"An alien conspiracy as a source of error?" Lucrecia asked incredulously of Tarquin across the room. He looked back at her with the expression he used to try to look innocent.

"Stranger things have happened." I reminded her.

She glared at me.

Mrs. Barker had a hand across her eyes. "Okay, _relevant_ ideas, please. And sane ideas if you can possibly help it…"

There was a bit of a pause as people thought, trying to think of what could have—or had—gone wrong.

"Contamination due to improper handling of materials," Hojo suggested suddenly, glancing sidewise casually to accuse me.

I glared, shoulder blades tensing like a fight-ready dog. "And we mustn't forget that there's always _experimenter incompetency_!" I replied furiously, looking defiantly at Hojo.

He glared back at me, truly furious now.

"Nix!" Lucrecia hissed at me, grabbing my arm. She looked terrified.

I could see out of the corner of my eye that Hojo was still looking daggers at me, but Lucrecia still had a hold on my arm, so I didn't provoke him.

Mrs. Barker gave up and instead assigned a worksheet of the same information.

* * *

Moments before the bell rang, Mrs. Barker spoke. "Nicole? Daryl? Could you stay after class? I would like to speak to you." She was still working on her computer as she said this, but I looked up, glaring at her indignantly.

Lucrecia looked at me warily. "…Nix?"

"What?"

"Don't do anything… rash?"

I looked sidewise at her. "I'll… try."

She rolled her eyes and picked up her backpack, looking over her shoulder at me concernedly as she left.

The rest of the class left. Hojo approached Mrs. Barker's desk, but I sat defiantly where I was.

"Nicole?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you please come up here so that I don't have to yell at you?"

I got up moodily and slunk to stand in front of her desk, glaring fiercely at Hojo all the while.

"Right," Mrs. Barker began, sounding as though this was a daily occurrence. "Before _I_ talk your ears off, is there anything either of _you_ would like to say?"

I glared for a moment, and then pointed childishly. "He started it in the first place!"

"I did not. You were the one wasting time—"

"I was _not_ wasting time! You were being a lazy, stupid ass!"

"_I_ was—"

"Shut up, both of you!"

We both fell silent, still glaring.

"Okay…" She shook her head. Letting me open my mouth had been a mistake. "Both of you need to chill. Seriously. I need to run this class and I need to do so with minimal chaos."

I giggled.

"You know what I mean." She snarled at me, then continued calmly. "If this kind of disruption continues," She glared at me. "I will have to remove one of you from this class… And possibly move you to the _remedial _course." The second part was directed at Hojo, and his look of badly disguised terror was priceless.

"You may go." She told Hojo, simultaneously chaining me to the floor with a look.

I glared as he left. The door clicked shut.

"Nix!"

I jumped. "Ah! What!?"

"What in Hell do you think you're doing?"

"With all due respect, what the Hell do you think _you're _doing? You know who they are, you said so yourself! So why can't I give him what he deserves!?" I asked angrily. "And no sympathy for poor Lucca," I accused, folding my arms.

"Because she isn't Lucrecia, and he isn't really Hojo."

"What!? You still think it's a hoax after all this? Darn muggle."

"I take offense at that," she informed me calmly.

"How can you—? Prove it! Go ahead, try and prove it's all an elaborate trick."

"They're out of character," She explained swiftly. "Only slightly, but noticeably."

I refolded my arms. "Example?" I demanded.

"Hojo is ignoring Lucrecia and vice versa. I would expect at least a bit of a reaction…"

I rolled my eyes. "Lucrecia has tried to not come to class twice. She's terrified. It's taking her entire teaspoonful of bravery and determination to not have a mental breakdown in class.

"And as for Hojo, he's scared too. After the first day Tarquin chased him down a dark alley, beat him up and took his lunch money."

Mrs. Barker raised an eyebrow.

"Uh… figuratively." I added quickly.

"Nix, I'm serious. You need to behave civilly."

I pouted. "I'll… I'll follow Lucrecia's advice okay?"

"And what's her advice?"

"Generally, 'don't hurt anyone and don't pitch a fuss.'"

Mrs. Barker finally let me leave.

* * *

"Nix!" Lucrecia was waving at me. She was sitting with Vincent, Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis. Although Genesis was sitting apart, reading Loveless again.

"Heya!" I sat down next to her.

"Are you alright?" She asked, as though I had just come back from a battle.

"No, Lucrecia, I died."

She rolled her eyes, but relaxed visibly. "Anyway, I was planning to call a meeting. I hoped you'd come, as you've done so much _research._" She was lightly teasing.

"Ready to come up with a plan, then?"

"Or make us come up with one for her…" Vincent said casually, looking at the sky.

Lucrecia looked at him, mildly disgruntled. "I was hoping we would be able to come to a reasonable agreement as a group."

Genesis gave a single laugh-like sound of disbelief. Lucrecia looked at him curiously.

"Aaaanyhow…" I interrupted. "I'll be there."

"Good," She said, then quickly sought out a new topic of conversation, unwilling to discuss plans for her little conference.

We had started having these official gatherings since the very end of the previous year. We used them to decide on anything deemed important, like when Yuffie had not been able to decide whether to go home or not and when there had been talk of leaving Randal Manor due to fear of its previous owner. Now it was what we should do about an unwelcome newcomer.

I was an expendable member of the group and Lucrecia's right-hand pawn. I was invited only when she thought I would support her or when she thought I would be necessary in order to make an informed decision.

"Why is she in charge?" Genesis asked Sephiroth scathingly. Sephiroth acted like he hadn't heard the question.

I rolled my eyes and answered for him. "We elected her at the end of last year. She's in charge 'till we pick someone else."

"The population has changed, you ought to re-vote."

I looked at him teasingly. "Why don't you propose it at the meeting?"

"Why don't you?"

I laughed coldly. "Hah! Political suicide, that. I'll _second _it. It's your idea, after all..."

"Hmph." He leaned back casually, opening Loveless.

* * *

Author Note: I apologize that my originals took so much spotlight in this chapter. Meh. I got kind of very carried away…


	7. Taking Over on Fate’s Day Off

~CHAPTER 7~

Taking Over on Fate's Day Off

* * *

Disclaimer: Whatever, Square Enix can _have _their_ stupid _rights to their_ stupid _characters. Hmph. You know what? I don't even _like_ Final Fantasy anyway. (Lies, lies, lies.)

* * *

Lucrecia was sitting in the armchair that Cloud had favored. After he left, I decided that the chair was the nicest and promptly dubbed it the "Dictator Chair." She had the assigned reading for English open in front of her, but she had not turned the page for over five minutes. She was waiting.

A couple of people were already in the room. Vincnet was sitting on the floor on one side of Lucrecia's chair, Nanaki was lounging regally on one of the large sofas and Yuffie was playing my copy of Final Fantasy VI Advance with her tongue clenched in her teeth on the other side of the circle. Angel was waiting in the corner of the room. Other than the extremely catchy battle music coming from the gameboy, the room was silent.

Lucrecia looked up suddenly. She picked up her cell phone (everyone who didn't have one had gotten one this summer) looked at it for a second, then snapped it shut. "Everyone should be here by now," She said tensely.

"Yuffie?" I asked, "Can you spare a second to go get everyone who's not here?"

The Final Fantasy fanfare music played out of her game and she quickly trempsaved. "No prob." She stood and was gone a moment later.

People started trickling in slowly. Sephiroth, with his usual swagger, had apparently already been on his way down. Zack looked bleary-eyed when he arrived and when questioned he said he had been asleep. Aerith entered the room without incident or comment.

I looked around at the group. Everyone save Genesis and Angeal was either sitting or standing in a rough circle around the place where the fire had been the previous year.

The weather was not cold enough yet that fire was necessary and Cid had left with assurances that the heating systems would work and Reeve had left Cait Sith in case he was wrong. The charred patch had been covered over the summer by a rather nice Persian rug I had found on the upper floors of the manor.

Either way, Angeal was standing away from the group, respectfully trying to observe without disrupting. Angeal had told me that he didn't feel like he belonged as part of the group yet and did not want to impose his presence on us. I told him that that was idiotic and that he was more part of this decision that I had any right to be. He had shrugged and remained where he stood, between two shafts of light where boards had not fully covered the windows.

The group had shrunk a bit more than it had grown the previous summer, from a total of eleven characters to a new total of nine. Well, ten if you're going to be technical, and only seven of them were in the room.

Yuffie returned from her quest, fake panting.

"Where's Genesis?"

"He says he's not coming," she choked out between gasps.

"Very well." Lucrecia said.

"His loss…" I muttered, wondering if he had a plan.

"Then…" she looked around, counting quickly. "Everyone who is willing to be is here?"

"Yep!" Yuffie confirmed. She leapt back onto her sofa cross-legged, head cocked attentively at Lucrecia.

Lucrecia looked at Angel. "…You are sure you don't want to join us?"

He shook his head and answered respectfully. "Not yet. I'll watch. Thank you."

She nodded, then turned her attention to the waiting group. I recognized some form of stage fright on her face. It seemed to me like the kind that even seasoned actors tend to get before saying something you're not sure about.

"I've called this meeting to… to find out your opinions on what we should do about…" She swallowed. "The new arrivals… in general and specifically."

Nanaki looked confused. "Why this level of concern? Is someone else here who I do not know about? Who are all the new arrivals?"

Lucrecia took another deep breath, but I spoke for her, knowing she was a bit unwilling to.

"Zack, Genesis, Angel—you've met them—and… well, Hojo."

The attention in the room was rapt. All eyes were looking for Nanaki's response. He stepped forward, breaking the circle and speaking directly and vehemently to Lucrecia.

"Why didn't I know this?" Nanaki demanded. "What have you all done, just let your guard down!?" Nanaki asked furiously. "Hojo is here? And you… You aren't planning to do anything about it?" Nanaki's voice was even more terrifying than usual. The rolling thunder sound was not coming from his muzzle. It was coming from his lungs and resonating throughout his ribcage.

"I won't have us resorting to violence," Lucrecia said softly, not looking at him.

"Resorting!? But—after everything he's done… to me, to Aerith, to—damn, I have no idea! Vincent? Aerith? Back me up!" He roared, glaring at the two of them.

"Hey, Red, if anyone's got something against Hojo, its Lucca," I told him angrily, leaning against the arm of the chair Lucrecia was sitting in trying to be intimidating and supportive.

Nanaki looked at her curiously. She looked uncomfortable under his scrutiny and glanced at Sephiroth seemingly involuntarily for a fraction of a second. Nanaki looked at him too, but for a longer time. He seemed to recognize something and his eye widened. He looked back at Lucrecia in surprise and shame. He sat heavily on his haunches, tail stiff and looked at the ground. "I'm sorry."

Lucrecia smiled at him. "Don't be. You are right… We can't 'let out guard down,' as you said, but we also can't let ourselves get out of hand." She looked at me sternly.

"Alright, alright," I said, a bit ashamedly. "I'll stop picking fights." I turned to look at Lucrecia as I added an important caveat. "But only so long as he doesn't pick fights with me. Or you." I looked at her and she nodded, accepting my terms.

"We're here to decide… what we should do. Or… if we should do anything… about…"

Vincent was looking at her slightly darkly. "It is not a matter of _whether_ to do anything, but what to do." He paused, looking at Lucrecia. She was silent, expression carefully clear. "To quote Nix…" He glanced at me in a faintly mocking way. "'Sanity first, safety comes second.' I think both those principles—in whatever order—would be put in jeopardy by inaction."

The speech was clean and elegant. It was very much Vincent's style in these kinds of debates to twist someone else's words to his advantage. He bowed his head in a swift nod to relinquish the floor.

I looked at Sephiroth, wondering if he was going to speak. He didn't. His hand was over his jaw thoughtfully. Normally, Sephiroth would have been next in line to voice his opinion on the topic. He was technically third, after Lucrecia and whoever had brought the decision to attention. He looked at Aerith and she hesitantly started to speak.

She lifted her chin from her hands. "I… I think Red XIII and Lucrecia might support me on this, but… I'm afraid of Hojo after what he's done."

Aerith looked at Lucrecia, who didn't look back. Lucrecia was more afraid than Aerith—more afraid than anyone—but to admit it would be to give up her pacifist stance on the issue.

Aerith looked away from Lucrecia to the rug. "I agree with Vincent; we need to do something, but I don't think we should do anything to drastic yet. We should… try to avoid a confrontation." She looked at Lucrecia again and this time Lucrecia nodded in agreement.

Zack leaned forward before a reasonable pause had been left for Sephiroth to step in if he decided to, evidently ignorant of the group's hierarchy. "You know, none of us like Hojo, right? I mean, does anyone?"

Silence. I put a hand over my mouth to keep myself from showing expression. Lucrecia was looking resolutely at the floor, her expression unreadable.

Zack nodded and folded his arms. "I think we need to... I don't know… Control him? When Shinra let him do whatever he ended up kidnapping me and Cloud and… yeah…" He looked uncomfortable. Lucrecia was glaring at him now. He fell silent, awkwardly not looking at her.

I bit my lip, partly to keep from being tempted to laugh. _Politics_.

Attention was tentatively, hopefully, directed towards Sephiroth. His expression was careful, subtle, close to unreadable. He seemed to be softly laughing in his head.

"Uh…" Yuffie sounded awkward, not sure if it was her turn to speak. No one stopped her, so she continued. "Well, I think he's ugly."

Silence. Lucrecia looked like she wasn't sure how to respond to the comment. Vincent looked like he was trying very hard to resist laughing. Several people glanced at Sephiroth for his response. He chuckled. Lucrecia glared at him. His mild expression in response clearly asked, "What? Did I say something?"

Now that everyone else had spoken, most of us shot furtive glances once again at Sephiroth, who was silent again, as though waiting for something. I was almost surprised as moments ticked past without a movement from him, I was almost sure he was planning to take the final move, but he was still silent now that everyone else had spoken. Suddenly, he turned his head to look at Angeal expectantly.

Angeal was silent for a moment, awkwardly trying to decide what to do.

"I… wouldn't really know," He said very slowly and carefully, "I never knew him very well. I only really knew him through… you, Sephiroth."

"Hah." Sephiroth's single laugh was cold.

Sephiroth looked at Angeal carefully, and then looked around at the rest of us with a measured smugness, as though deciding just how to play a winning hand. He folded his arms and looked at the rug in the middle of the circle.

"You are right. I knew him. I've known him… Hell, since I can remember. And I've hated him even longer." Angeal laughed quietly, acknowledging the truth of the statement. Sephiroth gave another soft laugh too. "Now I have even more reason to hate him. He lied to me my whole life. My _whole life_ was built on those lies." Sephiroth looked at Lucrecia, deliberately and carefully engaging her in one of their silent fights.

There was a long silence. Most of us were not sure who to be looking at, Lucrecia or Sephiroth, so our eyes flicked between their faces.

Slowly, Sephiroth's face assumed a slightly contemptuous look and Lucrecia gasped, breaking eye-contact.

"Fine," she said, her words more breath than speech, "do… what you will."

The meeting broke. I didn't really understand what happened, but something significant had definitely happened. For the moment, power had passed to Sephiroth, a much more radical and violent natured leader.

Something was going to happen now.

* * *

"Nix…" Sephiroth leaned over the back of the bus seat towards me. "Start one of your fights in class today."

I looked at him, slightly disconcerted. "But..."

"Listen, Nix, I need your help. We have to do something. We'll drive him out like we did Randal even if it takes the whole year."

I folded my arms.

"I stand by Lucrecia's decision."

"Her decision was to put me in charge."

_Damn it, he's right._ I sighed. "Fine. If there's a good chance I'll take it up, but I won't go out of my way or anything..."

"Good." He smiled slightly, seeming to approve. He sat back in his seat casually.

I listened to him carefully, but he was completely silent, not giving away any information about his plans. I glanced back at him.

He was looking at me, smirking. "Hello, Nix."

I turned around again, slightly disconcerted to find that he had been staring at me. "Uh… Hi, Sephiroth."

"Did you want to ask me something, Nix?"

"Uh… no… I don't think." I wasn't entirely sure that was the correct answer. I stood up and moved to a seat farther up the bus, away from Sephiroth and nearer to Lucrecia.

* * *

I was sitting on the low concrete wall during the break before Science working on trying to finish my math homework.

"Did I miss much?"

I found it a strain not to start because Genesis had snuck up behind me, his soft voice spoken into my ear.

I shrugged. "Sephiroth got put in charge."

"Really?" He stepped over the wall to sit next to me on it.

"Yeah."

"And how did that occur?"

I looked over at him angrily. "You should've come, you'd've found out for yourself."

"Speaking of which…" He said, ignoring my scorn, "You didn't call for a re-vote for me."

"You weren't there. We couldn't have re-voted if we wanted to. Not without everyone there…"

"Then can we re-vote at all?"

"What do you mean?"

"Hojo was not invited…"

I looked at him in mild surprise. "Well… he doesn't count."

"Why not?"

"Because… uh…"

Genesis got up, still watching me carefully. "You know what Sephiroth would have said to you earlier?" He asked, teasing.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. 'Don't turn your back,' and all that crap. I hung out with him all summer, remember?"

Genesis laughed coldly.

"Go read Loveless or something." I said, waving my hand at him dismissively, smiling.

He chuckled softly, lightly this time, and left.

* * *

Author Note: So.... How was your weekend?


	8. PLOT!

~CHAPTER 8~

* * *

PLOT!

* * *

Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy characters do not belong to me. In fact, the only original thing is the terrible, terrible things that I have done to them…

* * *

When I finally got to science Genesis was indeed engrossed in reading Loveless. Sephiroth and Angeal were speaking to each other quietly, as though plotting something. Actually, based on Sephiroth's behavior earlier, they _were_ plotting something.

I sat down and started searching through the infinite depths of my backpack, hoping against hope that I'd find the assignment.

"So, what are they doing?" Lucrecia asked.

"No idea…" I responded, arms elbow-deep in paper.

"Nix, have you ever considered organizing that?"

"I _have_ organized it! It is a law of nature that backpacks become rotting messes within days, so I've given up."

She looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "_My _bag is perfectly well-organized…"

"Yeah, well, you're an adult."

"My bag is organized as well," Tarquin said, taking my bag from me and holding it on his shoulder.

"Hey—!" I leapt up and snatched at the backpack. "You don't count Tarq—" I reached after the bag, but Tarquin was foot or so taller than me and could easily hold it out of my reach. "—You're, like, a _robot_!"

"I am not," He denied. He handed my bag back and laughed. "And the _politically correct_ term is 'android,' my dear."

I stuck my tongue out at him and sat back down. I glared after Tarquin as he left, and noticed that Sephiroth had been watching the exchange with fascination. He looked back at Angel and Genesis with a disturbingly inspired look on his face. Angel's brow furrowed even more than usual as he listened and Genesis even looked up from his reading.

I looked over at Lucrecia, then jerked my head to indicate the group. She looked at them, but didn't seem to find anything odd about their behavior.

"Lucca, are you sure it was safe to let Sephiroth…" I asked Lucrecia.

"What?"

"You know what I mean, take charge and all or whatever."

"Oh, yes. That." She folded her arms. "I didn't have a lot of choice," She snapped, "He—I mean…" She looked at the desk angrily. "You wouldn't understand…"

I rolled my eyes disparagingly. "_You wouldn't understand!_" had become the tagline of Sephiroth and Lucrecia's relationship since they had started speaking consistently at the end of last year.

Mrs. Barker was trying to call the class's attention to the front for notes. I got out my notebook and glanced around the room. Genesis had slunk across the dividing line between us and the rest of the class and was talking to Tarquin, who was shaking his head darkly in refusal. The lights flicked out and I started taking notes, but was too curious to let it rest. I glanced back to see that Genesis was sitting by Angeal again, reading Loveless. I scratched a note to Tarquin in a corner of the page.

"_What did Genesis say to you Tarq?_"

"_He told me that Daryl is furious with you personally, Nix._"

"_Why?_"

"_Genesis gave me little to no information on that and I have decided to reserve judgment as to whether to believe him. I suggest you talk to one of the two of them yourself, my dear._"

"_Yeah, right! That's just what Sephiroth wants me to do…_"

"_Perhaps. But I know you, Nix. You are far too curious a child to ignore a call such as this. I wish you luck._"

I stuck my tongue out at Tarquin. Talking to him was sometimes like playing chess, each trying to predict the other's next move. I hunched my shoulders defiantly, refusing to play into anyone's hands and continued taking notes on the PowerPoint.

I was determinedly not going to fall to curiosity and do exactly what Sephiroth expected and hoped for.

* * *

"You got a problem with something?" I demanded, standing in front of Hojo's desk a few minutes later.

"I should be the one to ask you that question." He responded, sounding a bit affronted. I did not care a bit.

"So?"

"So what?"

"So, are you pissed at me?"

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Well?"

He was silent.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Lucrecia had looked up to find me and balked when she saw where I was. She got up and sat back with Vincent talking to him quietly.

I got bored of watching the pair of them and looked back at Hojo. He was trying very admirably to look like he hadn't seen them but the look of distain on his face showed clearly that was not true.

I hunched my shoulders and stepped to angle myself into the line of sight between them protectively.

I found out later that while I was busy bickering and distracting Lucrecia Sephiroth had been executing a carefully planned heist.

"What?"

He rolled his eyes. "Go away."

"N—"

A hand grabbed my shoulder, and based on the vice-like quality of the grip, it was Tarquin. "Nix, drop it." He hissed close to my ear. He released my shoulder. He glared at Genesis as he walked away. I shot a final glare at Hojo and slunk back to my seat, next to Sephiroth.

Sephiroth had Hojo's backpack under his desk. He was rifling through the papers occasionally pulling one out, skimming it and tossing it deftly in the trash. "Sephiroth, what the heck are you doing?"

"Nothing." He tossed another paper over his shoulder carelessly.

"Sephiroth… you idiot." I shook my head. "Lucrecia's gonna kill you, methinks."

He laughed softly and continued to sift through the papers.

The laugh had actually gotten Lucrecia's attention. "Sephiroth, what are you doing?" Lucrecia asked him, her eyes following a flying ball of paper.

"Nothing," he said again just as carelessly.

"That's Hojo's, isn't it?" she said angrily.

"Like I said, noting."

She was silent, waiting.

He rolled his eyes. "So what if it is?"

"Sephiroth!"

He looked up at her now. "What? What do you want me to do?"

"Stop!"

"Why?"

The glared at each other for a second, then Sephiroth looked haughtily at the ceiling. "Fine. Whatever." He kicked the bag across the room. "He'll find it after class."

Lucrecia didn't seem satisfied, but I put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a "Really? Really, Lucrecia?" look.

She sighed then looked down at her desk. Mrs. Barker got the class's attention again and asked us to get out the individually finished part of the post-lab assignment and to correct it as a class. I got out the crumpled page and quickly re-read my answers. Lucrecia was looking across the room with a sly expression that seemed almost out of character for her.

When I followed her gaze I saw a commotion brewing across the room.

"Did you take it?" Hojo demanded of Ryder, the unfortunate kid sitting next to him.

"No, I didn't take it."

Ryder brought a hand off the desk casually. "I do not know here you possessions are."

"You don't know… then someone else knows who took it."

"No one here knows what happened to you possessions." He waved a hand through the air casually, as though brushing off the topic.

"No one here knows… fine." Hojo sat down defiantly, still looking around the room searching for a guilty party.

Lucrecia had a hand over her moth as though trying not to laugh.

"Lucca? What's up? I thought you'd be all disapproving and stuff?"

She took her hand away from her mouth, smiling but trying not to. "Well… truthfully…" She paused. "I thought that was funny…"

I mockingly put a hand over my mouth. "Gasp! Lucrecia has an inner sadist!"

Sephiroth looked at me in mild confusion. "I think you're mixing metaphors… or something."

"I am not! That's precisely what I meant."

Lucrecia had a hand over her mouth again in a fit of silent giggles.

I looked at her, then shrugged at Sephiroth. "What's with her?"

Sephiroth shrugged, smirking.

Mrs. Barker asked us to bring the papers up to her desk. I tossed my paper at Sephiroth. He took it grudgingly and I noticed that while my paper looked like it had been through a blender and a bonfire Sephiroth's was pristine. While he was bringing his paper to the front I glanced at Lucrecia who had stopped laughing and was now eyeing the bag cautiously.

"Should I get it?"

She gave a centimeter-sized nod and I ducked under the desk to try to get the bag without attracting Sephiroth's attention. I flipped through the binder quickly, resisting a gag at the psychological effect of knowing that the papers belonged to Hojo.

I found the paper that was due and tossed it onto the nearest desk. I stood up nonchalantly and grabbed the paper. I felt very slick and spy-like until I heard Sephiroth's voice.

"What are you doing, Nix?"

I cringed. "I'm… Uh… Turning in a paper…"

"But not yours."

"You're so damn perceptive!" I turned to look up at him. "It's Hojo's _okay?_ Lucrecia asked me to turn it in.

Sephiroth started to turn and look at her angrily, but she had stood and was glaring at him fiercely. Sephiroth dropped his gaze almost instantly when they made eye contact.

I was looking from one to the other in fear, then darted to Mrs. Barker's desk quickly putting the paper in her hand and darting away again, leaving her looking stunned.

* * *

"Hey! Hey, Lucca!" I stopped her before she could leave the classroom. "What're you going to do about Sephir—"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? What do you mean by—"

"I will express disapproval of his actions, noting more."

"So… You're taking back control of the group?"

"No."

"Some democracy this is…" Vincent commented lightly, taking Lucrecia's backpack from her and putting it over his own shoulder. She shot him a reproachful look and his head dropped slightly in shame.

"Ya know, babe, Vincent is right. Genesis suggested a re-vote for the new people to have their say. We should hold another meeting."

Lucrecia nodded slowly, then turned and left the classroom and Vincent and I followed her.

Vincent and I fell a step behind her, flanking her like Lord Vader's storm troopers. Vincent looked at me quizzically behind her back, mouthing "'Babe'?"

I narrowed my eyes and ran my tongue across my teeth provocatively. When Vincent responded with surprise bordering on disgust I smirked and skipped a few paces to catch up with Lucrecia.

* * *

"Nix?"

"Heya, Tarq."

"What do you have against Daryl?"

"What! Uh… why do you ask?"

"Because, as you know, I am against gratuitous oppression and degradation…"

"Well, then you should be on our team. Hojo essentially experimented on Lucrecia's kid then forbid her to touch him. Product: Sephiroth."

Tarquin nodded slowly and faintly confusedly. "Very well…" He pulled his hat lower on his head and pulled his coat around his shoulders. "Tallyho." He strode off, seeming satisfied.

* * *

Author Note: I'm sorry I hadn't put up this chapter for so long… I blame Daryl!

Actually… feel free to message or email me randomly to hurry up in this story. It actually works surprisingly often.


	9. Gentelmen's Duel

~CHAPTER 9~

Gentlemen's Duel

* * *

Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy characters do not belong to me. In fact, the only original thing is the terrible, terrible things that I have done to them…

* * *

Hojo confronted me during a passing period between classes. My next class's teacher didn't mark us late, so I was sitting in the hallway scratching notes into my spiral notebook.

"You went through my binder!"

"…No, I didn't."

"Liar."

I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly. "Oh, right… that. Well… so what if I did?"

"Just stay away from me, Nicole." He started to leave.

"Or what, huh?"

He was silent.

"Why're you so mad I touched your stuff? It's not like I stole anything…"

"You put it all back in the wrong order."

I looked at him incredulously for a second, then threw my head back, howling with laughter.

"What?" He gave me that look that he seemed to reserve for only me, that one that screamed, _Why didn't you take your schizophrenia meds this morning?_

When I recomposed myself he was glaring.

"What?"

"Stop."

"Stop what?"

"Being an idiot."

I rolled my eyes. "Some conversational prowess you're displaying there. I'm no more an idiot than you!"

A snarl briefly showed itself on his face, then disappeared just as quickly.

I folded my arms and cut him off before he got a chance to respond. "You keep to yourself and maybe I'll keep to myself."

"I _was _keeping to myself."

"I said _maybe_."

He rolled his eyes and glanced at me angrily and started to walk away.

"Hey, what say you we settle this once and for all?"

He stopped.

"A tournament. I've been toying with the idea for a while. If you win I stop bugging you. You win you buzz off us."

He turned his head a quarter to address me. "What kind of tournament?"

I grinned evilly.

* * *

"Hey, Tarq—"

I stopped mid-sentence when I saw that he and Vincent were glaring at each other across the classroom, staring like western gunfighters readying for a shootout. I raised my eyebrows at Lucrecia, who put a finger to her mouth to silence me.

I stepped towards the group warily, watching Vincent's expression for any hint as to what had happened. "What—?"

"Just drop it." Vincent snarled at me immediately, sending a banishing glare at Tarquin.

Tarquin shot me a bewildered look and slunk off obligingly to sit across the room. Lucrecia motioned for me to talk to him and I followed him to the corner of the room.

"What did you _do_, Tarq?" I asked, glancing somewhat fearfully at Vincent.

"I don't know."

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Okay, I greeted Lucrecia."

I rolled my eyes. "In your usual fashion, I would assume…"

Tarquin was silent.

"Tarq, Guy may be crazy but he can be _right_."

Mrs. Barker looked at where Tarquin was sitting with some confusion. Tarq glanced pointedly at Vincent who glared back. Mrs. Barker rolled her eyes and turned to her computer to start the lesson.

"Then he's jealous?" Tarquin asked me.

"Absolute textbook example. I'd think you'd recognize the behavior, after how Bella acts about you…"

Tarquin scoffed angrily and turned away. I waited a moment, then tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Tarq?"

"What?" He still looked sulky.

"Um… I need your help."

"Why?" He asked curtly.

"Hey, don't be mad at me. I was telling it like it is… Bella's a jealous brat."

He glared at me.

I rolled my eyes again. "Listen, I've… Uh… challenged Daryl to a… Uh… 'gentlemen's duel,' if you will."

Tarquin put on a feigned look of terror. "Coming from you, that sounds bad."

"Well… It is and it isn't…"

I had to stop talking because Mrs. Barker was beginning the learning part of the class, but I gave Tarquin details intermittently.

* * *

As the class started leaving, Tarquin and I finished working out the finer details of the tournament. "Right," Tarquin concluded, "Now all we need are… Venue and participants, if I am not dreadfully mistaken..."

I nodded. "Don't think you are. I'll announce the idea tomorrow for volunteers."

"I'll have a page made for people to sign up on."

"Perfect."

"And Venue?"

"Um…" I looked around.

Lucrecia had come up to us with a curious expression. "Did I miss the party?"

"A little bit, I'm planning a tournament."

"Ah." She said, sounding concerned.

"I need to know where we can set up a video game console for a long enough time…"

"What about here?" Lucrecia suggested.

"Well..." I said, thinking, "We have 15 minute break before this class..."

"And we all have lunch afterwards," Tarquin added, leaning back against the desk.

"As long as Mrs. Barker doesn't have a class then..." I turned to shout across the room at her, "Mrs. Barker?"

"Yeah?" She got up and came over to our group.

"You have the same lunch period as us, right?"

"Of course."

"Can we borrow your classroom during lunch for... a few days?"

"Are you up to no good?"

"Off course I'm up to no good! I'm always up to no good."

"... We solemnly swear..." Tarquin added quietly, smirking at me.

I hit him on the arm and continued. "Anyhow, we had an idea to have a… video game… tournament, and we'd need to borrow... the room and the projector. During... lunch and break."

She shrugged, "As long as you don't break anything, I'm fine with that..."

"Yay! Thank you!"

"That's almost an hour, total." Tarquin said, "as long as we can pause intermittently, two days should cover one round nicely..."

"One round? You can spend two hours without losing at Tetris, Tarq?"

He shrugged casually, "Somewhere thereabout."

I shook my head. "That sound okay?"

"Sure." Lucrecia nodded once. "And this whole plan achieves…?"

"Getting back at Hojo."

"For what?"

"She-dogging about how I went through his stuff."

She looked surprised. "Why did he have a problem with that?"

"'Case I put his stuff all back in the wrong order, apparently."

Tarquin sniggered.

Lucrecia rolled her eyes but made no comment.

* * *

"Hello, Vincent!"

"Hey, Nix…" He said darkly.

"You're still growling." I pointed out to him.

He fell silent.

Lucrecia rolled her eyes again and sat next to him, handing him a piece of bread from her lunch. He looked at it, tore off a chunk and tried to hand the rest back to her. She ignored it until he took it.

"What took you so long?" Vincent asked.

"I was setting up a tournament." I told him.

"A tournament? With what purpose?"

"Um… The original plan is to pwn Hojo at video games."

"'Pwn'?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah. Internet perversion of the term 'own' as in _to own someone's ass at something_."

Vincent nodded slowly at me, still looking confused.

Lucrecia laughed, then addressed me. "Nix, I need you to come to the Manor. I'm going to hold another meeting…"

I nodded. "What about?"

She bit her lip.

"Ah," I said knowingly. "Classified, eh?"

* * *

"Is everyone here?" Lucrecia asked.

I quickly counted everyone and nodded once. Everyone was there, even Genesis, though he looked a little bored.

"I called this meeting to… propose a motion. I think that this group has changed so drastically that it is necessary to choose a new leader for this group…"

There were several looks of open surprise and Genesis raised his eyebrows at me. I shrugged back.

Genesis seemed satisfied by this and raised his hand. "I second the motion."

Lucrecia nodded. "Then we re-vote. Nix?"

I nodded and started handing out the papers. With this done, I gave instructions authoritatively. "Write down the name of the person you think would make the best leader. Uh… except for me! I don't want responsibility…" Several people laughed, Sephiroth rolled his eyes.

There was silence for a moment as writing utensils were passed to use on the ballot papers. I noticed that Lucrecia had vacated her throne-like chair and had sat on the floor next to Vincent.

I started taking folded papers from the people who'd finished voting. Vincent handed me his, but first flicked the paper open so that I could just see a cursive capital L. He glanced at Lucrecia, and then gave me a curious look. I shrugged. I didn't know what Lucrecia would do.

I sat down with all the ballots and sorted and counted the names. Six votes had been cast for Lucrecia, including mine, the other four had been disparately cast for Genesis, Angeal, Sephiroth and—of course—Yuffie.

I stood and cleared my throat, smiling slightly against my will. "By an _actual_ majority this time… Lucrecia," I nodded at her, "with six votes."

"What?" Genesis breathed furiously. Sephiroth put a hand over his face like he was trying not to let on that he was laughing.

I smirked too, watching the fury in Genesis's eyes. Angeal was looking at his childhood friend shrewdly.

"Genesis, what's wrong?" Lucrecia asked him in a mockingly serious voice, a dark expression in her eyes.

He made eye-contact with her and carefully cleared his face of every emotion but contempt. Lucrecia smiled darkly.

This evidently irked Genesis because he stood and turned away from the group haughtily. "Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing—"

"Shut up, Genesis. We get it." Sephiroth said casually.

Genesis turned his head slowly, his face burning with fury, eyes flashing with fire at Sephiroth. Angeal was looking between his two friends with a look of fear.

"What did you just say, Sephiroth?" Genesis challenged.

"I said for you to shut up because we all get the point." Sephiroth said, standing to stare him in the eyes.

It took only a few chilling moments of glaring and several circling steps before actual battle broke out. Genesis lunged at Sephiroth furiously and I saw his hand close around Sephiroth's throat before I ducked my face under my arms. By the time I had talked myself into looking again, most everyone else had ducked and covered behind various pieces of furniture. There was a flash and I realized that materia had been called into play.

I scrambled to hide behind the sofa I had been sitting on, but then peeked up over it to watch the chaotic fight. When I looked up the image in front of my face was one that would be burned into my mind.

Lucrecia had stood to look pleadingly at Sephiroth and he had turned to make eye-contact with her. Genesis, however was seemingly taking advantage of the moment of distraction. He had a hand raised, fire ready to be blasted at Lucrecia's face.

My mind froze in that moment and time seemed to gear forward from there, as Sephiroth turned his head to see Genesis's action and he lunged forward to block the fireball.

The next thing I really saw was Sephiroth kneeling on top of Genesis, his arm across Genesis's throat. Both were panting. Sephiroth's shirt was burned almost to nothing.

"Sephiroth…" Lucrecia said softly. I noticed Vincent who looked like he was trying to pull her back down.

Sephiroth got up off Genesis, glanced at Lucrecia, then looked away abashed and stalked out of the room.

Genesis staggered upright and Angeal tried to help him steady himself, but he shoved off his friend's helping hand angrily and sulked in a corner.

I took a glance at the shocked group, but then left the room to follow Sephiroth.

"Hey, Sephiroth?"

He stopped and looked back down the stairs at me, his eyes still showing a residue of fury. He seemed to try to soften his expression when he saw it was me. "What's up, Nix?"

I darted up the stairs to talk to him, skipping steps. "What happened?"

Sephiroth turned away, heading for his room. "Genesis attacked me. Nothing more."

"I thought I saw him attack Lucrecia…"

Sephiroth froze, then looked back at me with as close as I had ever seen to fear. "Yeah. He did." He slunk into his room, but didn't shut the door on me, so I leaned around the door frame. I was surprised to note that my sharpie smiley-face was still tacked to the wall.

"Should I tell her?"

Sephiroth shook his head, sitting at his desk not facing me. "She'd be… scared."

I nodded. "Good point. So… You trust Vincent?"

Sephiroth nodded. "Yeah. He'll look after her…" He dug his fingers under his hair, frustration distorting his features. "I'm worried about Genesis, though. Sometimes he can be such a—" He stopped and I recognized his unwillingness to insult a friend.

"Want me to watch him?"

Sephiroth nodded noncommittally.

I nodded and left him alone.

* * *

Author Note: As usual, sorry! I, unfortunately, have no excuse this time… Other than the fact that I was abducted by Tribbles in the intervening time.


	10. Something Wicked This Way Comes

Chapter 10

* * *

Something Wicked This Way Comes

* * *

Disclaimer: Uh… I didn't make up the characters… except for, like, Nix and Tarquin… I BLAME TARQUIN! –pointing–

* * *

Tarquin had put up a nice little sign-up sheet for the Tetris tournament. It explained the rules and times concisely.

"Very nice…" Lucrecia commented, looking sarcastically at me. "You're really going through with this?"

"Well… yeah. I figure it'll be fun if nothing else, right? Can't take credit for the signup, though. Tarq made it. It's cute, i'n'it?"

Lucrecia looked a little wary. "Tarquin's involved with this? How did you convince Tarquin to help you?"

"Easy. I've pretty much got him to hate Hojo too, so he decided to help us."

Lucrecia looked worried. "'Convinced him to hate him?' …Was there slander involved?"

"Are you kidding? Tarquin loves you, remember?"

Her expression darkened. "I had noticed."

"So has Vincent."

Lucrecia looked somewhat distressed by this. "Nix, you know Tarquin well… what should I do?"

I rolled my eyes. "We've been over this. Tarq's got a girlfriend to whom he is completely loyal. His behavior towards you is nothing but old-school, old-world flair caught alight by amusement at Vincent's reactions."

Lucrecia looked unconvinced.

"Ok, fine. I'll talk to him." I looked around and noticed that he was gone. "What? He's ditched."

Lucrecia looked around too, apparently equally confused. "I didn't see him _leave_…"

"Yeah, but nor do you have superpowers. He's sneaky. He's probably with Bella. I'll talk to him later…" I knew he would probably ask me what we had done in class today. I turned to the front of the class to find out for myself.

* * *

"Good day, Nix… Er… What did we do in science today?"

"I knew it. I totally called it. I told Lucrecia you'd come begging me for information."

"Yes, well…"

"You were with Belle, weren't you?"

Tarquin looked somewhat guilty. "She has a terribly dull Algebra class and—"

"I think we know eachother too well."

He shook his head.

"Tarq, why are you baiting Vincent?"

He shrugged. "I amuse myself."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, Lucrecia is not ok with it. And anyway, ask Mrs. Barker what we did."

"No! I—" He looked reluctant.

"You're afraid of Mrs. Barker?"

Tarquin glared and changed the subject. "And your little game? How is that?"

I nodded. "Signup's up. I'll see how popular it is, then we'll start."

Tarquin seemed satisfied with this and left to find Belle.

I Turned around to search for Lucrecia, but was promptly accosted by a vividly ranting Noshi. "Nix! Hi!"

"Heya, Noshi. What's up?"

"I heard about your Tetris tournament."

"Yeah?"

"Tarquin told me. He's in my math."

I rolled my eyes. "I thought I was smart in my honors math class, but you're _two_ years ahead… Why do I always end up with smart friends?"

Noshi laughed at me and temporarily re-railed the conversation. "Why are you having the tournament, anyway."

I sighed and folded my arms. "Have you heard of Daryl?"

"Heard of him! '_Have I HEARD of him_!'"

"Okay…. Sorry I asked."

"I hate him with the passion of…"

"Millions of combusting super-novas and a half-dozen white dwarf stars?"

"Yes! And many other things like that."

I stared at her passionate smoldering for a moment. Even _I _didn't hate him that much. "What's your issue with 'im?"

"He's evil."

"That's all the coherence I'm gonna get out of ya, innit?"

"Yep, pretty much."

I chuckled as Noshi continued her rant and settled back, listening.

* * *

I sauntered in the back door of the math class, expecting to be the life of chaos, as usual, but found myself scrambling to develop a new plan of action at the sight of an uncomfortably familiar figure in the front left of the classroom. Deciding upon espionage as a potentially fun plan, I quietly slipped to my desk several rows behind him without my usual ruckus. When role was called, I worried I might be found out, but Daryl seemed too busy with paper on his desk to notice me.

About 20 minutes into class we were supposed to be working, but most of the people in class were chattering instead. Perfect cover, I thought. I put my backpack on my desk as a shield, got out a stack of sticky notes, scrawled 'Hello!' on one of them, crumpled it, and lobbed it across the classroom at Hojo. He started when the paper landed in front of him surprised out of a deep focus. He glared around angrily for a culprit.

I hunkered lower behind my backpack, out of his line of sight, smirking as I waited for a reaction. A bit later, he uncrumpled the note and looked around angrily in reaction to the message. I was ready with another crumpled note. This one said 'Over here!' but I timed the throw so that he could not have seen where I was throwing from. The note landed on his desk without too much incident, but I sulked behind my backpack the rest of class so as not to alert attention…

* * *

I was in English the next day, flipping through my sticky notes. I had pre-set the phrases on them for easy re-loading next math class.

"Nix, what are you doing?" Um, yeah. Lucrecia was in the class with me.

"I'm… uh… prepping something…?" Bad move. The suspicious tone perked up Lucrecia's parental instincts.

"Nix, really. What are you doing?"

"I'm writing on sticky notes what's it to you!"

"You're acting suspicious enough for me to think that it's something I ought to know about."

I glared at her. "You wanna know? You _really_ wanna know!" I gave her no time to respond. "Fine. Hojo got transferred into my math class."

"Really? Wait—" She looked surprised. "What, _your_ math?"

I looked at her with a slightly dark expression. "Um, I'm in the accelerated math class."

"Oh… Wait, really?"

I stared at her for a moment, searching for a hint of sarcasm. I found none, so I folded my arms. "Listen, if you're gonna insult me—"

She seemed to realize then what she had sounded like and put a hand over her mouth. "Oh! Sorry, Nix! I didn't mean—"

I rolled my eyes and tried to return to working on the assignment.

"But what does it have to do with sticky notes?"

I winced as she got back to the point I had been avoiding. "Well…" I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly. "See, he doesn't realize I'm in the class."

She shook her head. "So, what, you're—"

"Being my usual obnoxious self, yeah. I won't do anything cruel, promise."

She didn't seem to totally believe me.

* * *

I opened the door of the classroom, looked around, saw Mrs. Barker, and nodded satisfiedly.

She gave me a quizzical look before I ducked back out of the room. When I returned dragging Lucrecia by the wrist, Mrs. Barker's expression had shifted from mild curiosity to genuine fear for my sanity.

"Hi, Mrs. Barker!" I said, waving, "We're bringing the stuff for the Tetris battles!"

"Okay…" She said quietly, watching Vincent enter the room wreathed with all the wires required to hook up my silver-colored PS2.

Mrs. Barker was rubbing her temple. "What have I gotten myself into?"

The Tetris tournament was supposed to start that day, so I had brought what was needed. I noticed that several people who had signed up were there. I took the stuff from Vincent and noticed that everyone was looking at me.

"Um… you're in charge here, Nix." Lucrecia reminded me.

"Uh… yeah. I know, yeah…" I raised my voice slightly. "Uh… so. Who all's here for the tournament?"

Pretty much everyone raised their hands.

"Why else would we be here?" Lucrecia reminded me from her seat in the front of the room.

"Right. Yeah… So…. Um, it's a knockout style tournament, so, you lose, you're out of the game. Sound ok?"

General murmurs of agreement.

"We—Euh… Tarquin and I—" I noticed uncomfortably that Tarquin wasn't there. "…have three duels planned for today and if you aren't involved in those three, you can leave. But you can stay and watch. If you want… ya know… so long as you don't rat on us or anything." I nodded, gaining confidence. "So, first round is me versus Citra, then Ryder and Harrison, and Darek versus Sammy." The named persons reacted, generally, sizing each other up. "So, those six meet back here at lunch unless your round is over, dong-ma? Looks like… that's Citra and me up." I grinned sheepishly, then turned to set up the projector.

I reached up at the projector vainly, wires in hand. I was too short. "Zack!" I snapped, instantly targeting one of the tallest people in the room. "Plug in the PlayStation!"

Zack reached up, able to see the projector easily. I gave him the tri-headed stereo/video cable. Zack looked at the projector with a glazed expression. "So… What am I supposed to do?"

"The red thingy goes in the red slot and the yellow goes in the yellow slot and white with white."

Zack's brow furrowed "… I still don't get it."

"Unplug the white thing." He did. "Now plug the white thing I handed you in where the first one was." He did and the sound came on through one of the two speakers.

Zack's eyes widened. "Oh, I get it now!"

Several people, including myself, put hands over their faces in disgrace.

"Aerith, your boyfriend is pathetic…"

She folded her arms amiably and glared slightly as I set up the controllers.

Citra, my longtime friend from elementary, was standing at the side of the desk hesitantly. I turned on the projector to reveal the splash-screen of an old-school-style Tetris game with an innovative multiplayer mode. I tagged into the game as Player 1 and handed the other controller to Citra as I sat next to him on the table, smiling slightly. "You ready to get your butt kicked?"

Citra tagged in as Player 2. "What? No way. You're going down!"

The game started. "Oh, you're so sure!"

Blocks started falling onto each of our play fields. "Yeah! I play Tetris on my phone for hours when I'm bored."

I pressed keypad down to drop the block quickly into place. "Hmh. Only 'cause you've got nothing better to do most times!"

"How'd you do that!"

"Do what?"

"Drop the little… blocky… thing… like that?"

"I'm magic."

Citra growled softly.

I dropped a line-shaped block alongside a solid mass, executing a four-line combo.

"How'd you do _that?_"

"I thought you played Tetris all the time?"

Citra's stack of colorful blocks was growing. "I… I _do_! But…"

"But apparently not enough!"

Citra's blocks hit the top of the screen. The game declared me the winner with much fanfare.

"Haha! I'm on to the next round."

"Great, now get this stuff put away. Class starts in thirty seconds." Mrs. Barker was glaring at me.

* * *

Later, at lunch, the duels resumed and—surprisingly—took the whole lunch break, so I ate in the science room and somehow convinced some people to join me.

"What's your guess?" I asked quietly.

Vincent scoffed slightly. "Seriously, Harrison doesn't have a chance."

"Why not?"

"Ryder has… telepathy or something. And Harrison's a pretty boy."

I shot an appraising glance at Harrison. "Right, I won't deny Harrison's _pretty_, but he's not dumb either."

"What are you talking about?" Lucrecia had noticed the conspiratorial whispering.

I grinned with an intentionally guilty air. "Uh… I was just playing bookie."

She glared at me.

"I—She—Damn, Nix… It's not true."

"I know."

Harrison succumbed to the quickly falling blocks and the game declared Ryder the winner. He stood and shook Harrison's hand, the humility in his gestures not quite reaching his eyes.

"Darek and Sammy, you're up." I said more loudly, addressing them. Both cordially approached the desk where the players had traditionally been sitting. Darek chose to stand.

"Darek. No question." Vincent said.

"Agreed. He actually _has_ telepathy."

Lucrecia looked slightly bewildered, Vincent looked annoyed.

I was right in the end, though.

* * *

I sauntered into math again, totally aware of my promise to Lucrecia not to go over-board. Not that I would, right? I mean, I was only chucking sticky-notes. Not overboard.

Consoled, I sat at the back of the room again, putting my bag on my desk again. I got out the sticky notes, carefully watching Hojo. He seemed more wary than he should be in a class like this, but then again some mysterious and annoying poltergeist had been pelting him with sticky-notes all last class. I'd probably be a touch jumpy too.

The teacher turned his back.

Hojo uncrumpled the paper fairly immediately.

"Hello, again!"

* * *

A/N: I'm so _friking_ dedicated to resurrecting this. I sacrificed watching the new MythBusters last night to work on finishing this chapter. Yeah.

Oh! A bunch of characters are renamed third-party cameos from other popular genres. Feel free to guess who they are if you're interested.


	11. My Work Here is Done

Chapter 11

* * *

Destruction, Confusion and Chaos. My Work Here is Done.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, or Tetris, or a bunch of other stuff. And I totally made up this version of Tetris. But I do have a silver PS2. I call it Sephiroth.

* * *

I was hanging out in the halls during some extra time before school, bored out of my mind, looking for someone to talk to. The first people I ran across who were willing to speak civilly to me were Sephiroth and Angeal.

"Heya, boys. What's up?"

Angeal smiled at me, Sephiroth gave a lukewarm nod. "Hello, Nix. What are you looking for?"

"Uh… Somewhere where I'll be less bored…? I just got chased off by a very disgruntled Glenn, so I thought I'd hide with people who look intimidating…"

"If he comes for you, I'm just gonna watch."

"Thanks. You are a _wonderful_ friend, Sephiroth."

He smirked darkly.

"Speaking of 'wonderful' friends, though, where's Genesis?"

Sephiroth's brow furrowed just slightly. "I… don't actually know. Angeal?"

He shrugged in response. "Genesis has started on his own, different, path," he said cryptically. I rolled my eyes.

"He might be hanging out with his girlfriend." Sephiroth added, much more bluntly.

"Wait, what?" If I had been drinking something I probably would have spat it out. As it was, I choked on air. "Genesis has a girlfriend?" I sputtered, disbelievingly.

Sephiroth chuckled softly.

"You're surprised?" Angeal asked.

"Euh… Well… actually… No offense to him, but _yeah_."

Angeal laughed too this time.

"Genesis… likes attention." Sephiroth said happily. "I don't mind." He added musingly. "Distracts fan-girls from me, so…"

I shook my head. "Who would date him, though? He's a jerk!"

Angeal looked at me reproachfully. "Only to you, Nix."

"But _still_, who's dating him?"

Angeal shrugged. "'Noshi,' she calls herself. I don't know her."

"Noshi? Oh, dear…" I shook my head. "_I_ know her."

Sephiroth was somewhat reproachful this time. "Is something wrong with that?"

"Uh… Just don't think they'll get along. I dunno." I shrugged. "I'm not gonna interfere with Genesis' '_path_' or whatever." Angeal looked at me reprimandingly. "I'd much rather just stay clear of him."

"Really, though. Genesis isn't as bad as you seem to think."

I shrugged noncommittally.

"Nix, did you finish the science homework?"

I watched him warily. "Yes. Why?"

"Because I need to copy it."

"Give me one good reason why I should let you."

Angeal was smirking at us.

"Because if you don't, Lucrecia will find out that I didn't do it."

I glared at him for a few seconds, then gave up. "Fine." I started to dig through my backpack.

By this point, Angeal was laughing.

"What? _What!_"

* * *

I was the first person in Barker's room during the break period, so I started setting up for the day's tournament battles.

"What are you doing in here so early, Nix?"

I jumped. It was Mrs. Barker. "Oh, hi. Uh… setting up."

"Yeah. That's not what I meant. The last class ended ten seconds ago. Did you run?"

"I needed to… um… hide."

"From?"

"…Glenn."

She shook her head.

"Hey, short people with glowing swords should strike fear into the hearts of anyone with a sense of self-preservation!"

She looked incredulous. "I really don't know how to respond to that."

I glared slightly, but let it drop, returning to the tangled wires. I had just settled in when people started trickling in, including one who, with a squeal, tackled me.

"Nix, Nix NixNix!"

"Hello, Noshi."

"Guess what?"

"You're dating Genesis."

She blinked at me for a moment. "How'd you find out?"

"Sephiroth told me."

"He's a jerk."

I smirked and nodded, returning to working on hooking up wires. Zack arrived and I waved him over. He enthusiastically started hooking up the projector.

"Was it supposed to be a secret?" I asked Noshi.

"Yeah… sort of…"

"Okay. Zack—"

"What?"

"Zack… uh …That's the red wire…"

"Oh, right."

I abandoned Zack to continue to ponder as I looked at the duel list for today and looked around. Aaron was there and Tarquin had just slunk in, so I hailed both of them to come prepare for the duel, then went to talk to Vincent and Lucrecia.

Well, mostly to talk to Lucrecia and look at Vincent warily. He was totally calm—eerily calm—and seemed totally focused.

"He's—okay, right?"

She leaned to look him in the face and he responded with a faint unsmiling nod.

"Yeah, I think so. He's been… Well, going deeper into this state all day." She seemed a little bit worried.

I moved around to get a better look at Vincent's profile. "Yeah, he's fine. He's got that look on his face through, like, most of _Dirge of Cerberus_."

His gaze turned on me darkly.

"Yeah, okay, I can take a hint, shutting up," I said quietly. We all turned to look at the battle. At a glance it looked like Aaron could be winning, but a closer look at Tarquin's board would tell you he was biding his time, playing off the fact that Aaron was glancing at his board every few seconds.

"You have favorites for today, Nix?" Lucrecia whispered.

"Euh… Well, this match is no question."

"Really? It seems like they're close."

"Tarq is _playing_ with him."

Lucrecia looked a little wary at this and started observing the boards more closely.

"As to the next two, Noshi's going against Vincent… So he'll probably win, I hate to say."

She nodded. "I… guessed that would be the case…"

"Yeah. The last match is Zack and Maverick. And… I really don't think Maverick has the focus to win… he's a wildcard, though."

I looked back up at the battle for a moment and winced; the colored blocks denoted a massacre. Aaron was losing badly, despite his vibrant enthusiasm for the tournament and desperation to rebound.

"Well… Vince, looks like you're up in a sec. I'm gonna go talk to Noshi."

I moved over to where she was sitting.

"Heya, Nix."

"Noshi."

There was a pause.

"Aren't you going to ask about me and Genesis!"

"That wasn't so much in my plan, particularly. No."

"Why not?"

"I… don't like Genesis much. If you do, that's fine, but…" I shrugged. Noshi glared. "Just… go kick Vincent's butt at Tetris."

"Fiiine... I'll do my best."

I moved back over to talk to Lucrecia for the duration of the battle, trying hard not to look at Vincent's expression or Noshi's intimidation.

"This is not going to be fun."

"No?"

"For me."

Lucrecia smirked.

"Stop showing off just because you have the high ground here, Lucca. That's my job."

She rolled her eyes and backed off as Noshi and Vincent started the game.

They seem fairly evenly matched, except when Vincent glanced at Noshi and she got intimidatedly distracted for a moment.

I looked away from the screen. "She's the one dating Genesis." I told Lucrecia.

"Wait, Genesis convinced someone to date him?"

"Hhm. I'd've thought Sephiroth would have told you or, you know…" I looked at her carefully, gauging her mood, "like, communicated it telepathically or something."

Lucrecia glared at me, but accepted that it was a joke.

I watched the battle for a few more moments as the gap between the two contestants grew and Noshi's finally hit the top.

She muttered something quiet which I thought may have been swear words in another language.

Zack and Maverick didn't seem to need instruction as Vincent stalked back to sit by Lucrecia. She looked at him warily, then somewhat beseechingly at me. I shrugged.

A few moments later as the battle began in full swing, I looked puzzledly at the screen. "I was wrong…" I muttered.

"What?"

"Look. Zack's going down..." Through no fault of his opponent. It was not so much that Maverick was skilled, as that Zack was terrible. Put simply, he didn't have the forethought to play the game effectively.

I shook my head. "I can't watch this… Too much blood…"

* * *

After I had gotten people to help me clean up the setup, Mrs. Barker took over the classroom again. With a relieved sigh she wrote the word "GENETICS" across the whiteboard in four-foot high letters.

"Genetics?" I asked.

"Yeah," Mrs. Barker said, "Is that good or bad?"

"Genetics… hm…" A thought popped into my head and I couldn't refrain from smirking darkly.

Mrs. Barker noticed and seemed wary. "What are you thinking?" She asked me worriedly.

"I'm thinking… Sephiroth."

She looked slightly afraid. "You wouldn't."

"I would. I'd probably get killed for it… but I would."

"So what's the plan?"

"Euh… use information from this class and background knowledge to determine Sephiroth's probable natural trait set and examine whether the expression of the trait was influenced by that hermaphroditic alien…!"

"…Jenova?"

I turned quickly and immediately hit the producer of the offending voice across the head with a textbook.

Hojo was standing stiffly, still braced from receiving the impact. "Forget I said anything…" He said. He walked towards his isolated corner of the room.

"Maybe I will!" I turned to Mrs. Barker again.

She sighed and shook her head. "Don't come to me when you _kill_ him by mistake and they try you for _murder._" Mrs. Barker muttered.

"I won't. I'll just frame Sephiroth."

Hojo seemed somewhat disgruntled by this conversation, but I ignored his expression and went to sit down by Lucrecia.

"You should really close your mouth."

"Nix—I… He… We may not necessarily adhere to your laws of gravity, but we're not immortal, Nix!"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, c'mon. I'm not going to cause any real damage… that won't actually serve as an advantage to him…"

Lucrecia was not amused.

* * *

The bell signaling lunch rang and, as Tetris had been quick, if not clean, I slipped out to lunch immediately. Vincent hadn't visibly calmed down, so to avoid him I followed Sephiroth. I was pretty sure he was aware I was following him, even though he gave no acknowledgement, because he was slipping through the crowd at an inhuman pace. I think he was avoiding me.

Eventually, I lost track of his distinctive hair in the crowd, and, awkwardly alone, I went to buy food. While looking for someone who might let me hang out with them, I ran across Vincent.

"Heya. Where's Lucca?"

"She left to find other friends to sit with."

"Lucrecia _has_ other friends besides us?"

He ignored me. "She said I needed to calm down."

I looked at him skeptically. "I'll say you do."

He glared.

"You seen Sephiroth?"

Vincent nodded once and looked pointedly across the room to where Sephiroth and Angeal were sitting.

"Thanks, Vince." I moved to the other side of the courtyard. "Hey, Sephiroth!"

"What do you want, Nix?"

"Hey, it was you who was avoiding me."

He smirked. "I just thought you'd want to hang out with your new boyfriend."

"I—My—What? I think you have me confused with someone else."

Sephiroth looked at Angeal as though for backup. "What was his name…? The guy from this morning?"

"What, Glenn?" I sputtered, "No, I—No _way!_ I mean…"

Sephiroth was laughing at me and I turned away from him, feeling my face burning, and almost tearing up with rage.

I had started to sulk off when I was distracted by Lucrecia a good distance off across the courtyard, obviously being harassed. Vincent stepped around the corner just behind me. When he saw the scene across the courtyard his eyes flashed a dangerous red. He dropped his bag and immediately started walking resolutely across the courtyard.

"Here comes Chaos!" I commented, somewhat startled, but surprised out of my misery.

I was thoroughly surprised to have my little prophecy fulfilled.

"Don't touch me!" Lucrecia shouted, pulling her wrist out of Hojo's grasp.

Vincent broke into a run for a few steps, then leaped above the crowds of other students, causing several groups of girls to scream, and immediately began to transform into his Chaos form.

"Oh, shit." Sephiroth said mildly, observing from a sideline.

Chaos swooped down and grabbed Lucrecia around the waist, launching back into the air with one sweep of its powerful wings.

"De-nied!" I shouted at Hojo, laughing at the stunned expression on his face. I grabbed Vincent's bag and started running up the stairs to the third floor. Sephiroth followed me a few moments later and overtook me by the time I made it to the second floor, despite my skipping steps.

When I made it to the third floor I found Vincent, now in his human form but still with a bestial glint in his eyes, curled up in the corner of the dimly fluorescent-lit hallway, Lucrecia still held protectively in his arms. She looked shocked, like she had no clue what had just happened, but had her arms around Vincent's neck.

Sephiroth looked like he wasn't sure how to react. I crouched a couple yards away from them. "Everyone ok?" I asked.

Lucrecia stared at me, still stunned.

More people started filing into the hallway and I stood up and rounded on them. "What are you all doing here? If you're here for a show, get out. They need to breathe. Seriously. Git."

Sephiroth turned to face the growing group as I passed him to address them. People not in our group started walking of, with various degrees of reluctance.

Tarquin was trying to dodge the caveat by standing in the stairwell, leaning around to address me. "Is everyone alright?"

"I don't know for sure. I think so. I'll call you if we need help."

He nodded slowly, still seeming somewhat terrified of what had just happened. It occurred to me that those who didn't know Vincent would be more than confused by the situation.

Sephiroth seemed to have the hallway under control, so I moved to try to comfort Lucrecia. Vincent seemed to have calmed down and was looking at her concernedly. Her face was away from his now and her expression was mortified.

"Lucrecia…?"

She made eye-contact with me. There were tears welling slightly.

"You okay?"

She stared at me.

"Okay… are you going to be okay?"

She nodded slowly, then shook her head suddenly as though realizing the state she had been in.

"I'm fine, I'm just—" She tried to stand up, but Vincent had to support her partially.

"Unsteady?" He supplied, concernedly.

"Hm?" She laughed. "No, I'll be fine." She started to move away.

I pointed to her behind her back and motioned that she was crazy to Vincent.

His expression was somewhere between a smile and a glare as he snatched his backpack from me.

I caught up with Sephiroth a few moments later.

"That was fun."

I rolled my eyes. "If you say so... Oh, and Sephiroth?"

"What?"

"You're a jerk."

* * *

A/N: Badly belated chapter and a badly belated happy birthday to my Noshi.


	12. Let's See What Color Blood a Psycho Has

Chapter 12

Let's See What Color Blood a Psycho Has.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, Tetris, Star Wars, or Band-Aid brand.

* * *

In English I tapped Lucrecia on the shoulder. "Oi, Lucca, you okay?"

"Oh? Yeah. Yes. Just tired."

"You look sick."

"No, I'm just a little worried."

"About…?"

"Uh… well… what Vincent did… yesterday… was too close for me."

I nodded seriously. "I get it. Any ideas?"

She sighed, looking disgruntledly at the worksheet on _The Great Gatsby_. "No, but I just wish there was a way to control the violence."

"We could always ask nicely…?"

She shook her head. "Very nicely… Don't worry about it, Nix. I'll… think of something eventually…"

I nodded hesitantly. "You sure?"

She gave me a silencing glance. "Did you talk to Tarq?"

I grimaced. "Eh… I knew I was forgetting something. Sorry, Lucca. He's just being childish, though. I think he can hold his own against Vincent, anyhow."

Lucrecia looked at me like I was insane.

"Okay, everyone," Mrs. Brown interrupted. "You want to watch this part of the movie for the rest of the period?"

"Yeah!" I cheered. "It's got my favorite scene!"

Mrs. Brown had someone turn the lights off for her.

"Why is that your favorite scene?" Lucrecia asked me, darkly.

"It's funny. Well, to me."

"Nix, he _broke her nose_, how do you find that funny!"

I rolled my eyes. "I find it _wonderfully fitting_ given the overall themes of the book. Not to mention; there's blood. And shh, it's almost that part of the scene now. I wanna watch."

"Nix, you are so morbid. I bet you _enjoyed_ watching Vincent slash up Jake's face."

"As a matter of fact, I did. But that's because I don't like Jake, not because I do like the violence. Now, _SHH_!"

There was blood onscreen from the character Myrtle's nose. The onscreen character of Tom watched coldly as his mistress fled. Nick looked surprised and unsure what to do. I giggled silently.

"See? Myrtle's connected with warmer, darker colors than the other characters—like red, for example—which has connotations of violence and—"

"Nix, shut up." She seemed a little more disturbed than the scene itself warranted, so I backed off as we finished the movie.

* * *

During the break period I went to Mrs. Barker's room to set up for the continuation of the Tetris tournament, as was becoming my routine. Jake was there.

"What are you doing here!" I asked him angrily.

He smiled coolly. "I'm here for the… Tetris thing."

I caught myself staring. Jake had grown up quite a bit since last year. His hair was slightly shorter, and he had grown at least six inches. Even his facial expressions seemed to have matured more than one summer ought to permit.

For some strange reason, though, he was still wearing pink.

I sneered. "Riiight, I guess Tarquin filled you in then, yes?"

He nodded, looking straight at my eyes with an almost creepy smile.

"Okay…" I looked down at the page of Tarquin's scrawl that I hadn't previously bothered to decipher.

"I'm playing against Sephiroth, right?" He said, interrupting my train of thought.

_Oh. That squiggle was a "ph"?_ "…Yeah."

He scoffed, preening his ego. "No prob."

He was getting a little too arrogant for me to tolerate. "Only if you have a death wish."

He looked only slightly wary at this.

I smirked. "'_Androids don't tear your arms out of your sockets when they lose_,'" I quoted sinisterly.

Jake looked like he wasn't sure if he should be afraid. "Not… really, right? I mean, he's not really that…"

I chuckled and shrugged. "Remember what happened to Cloud—Lighting-rod-head—last year? And Cloud was burly. Tough, ya know? Stamina, good constitution. You…" I gave Jake an appraising glance. "Not so much."

He snarled at me as Sephiroth sauntered in, being pestered incessantly by Yuffie.

"Yeah, but what if she—"

"No."

"Yeah, but then you might—"

"Yuffie, shut up," He snapped at her irritably when he saw that Jake and I were in the room.

I raised an eyebrow at Yuffie, who shrugged.

Jake strode over to Sephiroth, hand outstretched amiably. Sephiroth glanced at the hand, then stared incredulously at Jake's face. "Let's get this over with, then." He said, obviously to me, though he didn't look in my direction.

"Right… I just have to… Finish setting this up… and… yeah." I started to set to work.

"Here, let me—"

I winced away as Jake took the wires out of my hands, almost grabbing my hand as he did so. I glanced at Sephiroth, who was glaring at Jake.

"You may as well," I said to Jake, trying to keep the dark note out of my voice. "You're probably tall enough to reach the projector, anyhow…" I turned to talk to Sephiroth and Yuffie.

"I'll hold him if Vincent wants to punch him again…" Sephiroth snarled quietly.

I laughed softly. "This is gonna be no problem. He's just an arrogant jerk."

"Why'd he decide to join this thing anyway?"

Sephiroth folded his arms and looked over our heads.

Yuffie and I glanced at each other. I almost wished Lucrecia was there. "Did you do something to piss him off, Sephiroth?"

"No, I—Well, not… Sort of." Sephiroth stiffened, but continued. "…Apparently he's been harassing m—Well, Lucrecia."

"Eh? Why didn't I know about this?"

"I don't even think Vincent knows... I dragged him off once. He's probably bitter."

"How'd you catch him?"

Sephiroth was silent.

"Oh, so he's in that class that you're in with Lucca and that you _never_ go to?"

He glared, which I took as an affirmative.

Yuffie shook her head. "Text me if I'm needed, Nix. I'm not gonna waste my time here." I nodded, then turned to find that Jake had been watching the tail end of the exchange carefully.

"That should do it." Jake said with an obnoxiously self-satisfied look at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth and I glanced at each other for a split second before Sephiroth slunk up to the front of the room.

"I don't think…" I looked around as though expecting to see others. "…anyone else is coming…"

They had started, so I curled up in the back of the room, feeling lonely and very intimidated by the two very competitive young men I had somehow ended up trapped in the room with. I started doodling in my spiral notebook as though it might protect me from the quickly rising levels of testosterone in the room.

I wasn't watching, but it grew increasingly difficult to resist looking at the board. Finally my curiosity took over and I looked up to find that, surprisingly, Sephiroth was making obvious mistakes. He looked frustrated, but was concealing it fairly well. Jake wasn't doing particularly well, but was winning.

I was staring at the board in confusion and fascination. Sephiroth should not have lost. Especially not like that.

"That wasn't right. What… happened?" Sephiroth asked, brow somewhat furrowed.

"…Um, you lost is what happened." I said, sarcastically.

He glared at me.

"Sorry." I changed my attitude to try to comfort him. "Well, for one, you don't _do_ this. Jake does. It's not your area, so, no disgrace."

He looked darkly at me. Apparently I wasn't helping.

I sighed. "Sephiroth, you're _freaking Sephiroth!_ You're, like, one of the most talented people _ever_." I looked at him carefully, and continued, "If you were any more awesome than you already are, you'd be just freaking annoying."

He didn't visibly respond. Even his body-language was stiff and reserved.

I shook my head and didn't make eye-contact with him. "If it helps at all… I have lost no respect for you."

He looked at me with one of those subtly and annoyingly unfathomable expressions.

I rubbed my temple confusedly as he left to move to his corner of the room angrily. I went to the front of the room to try to figure out what to do next. "Hey, Mrs. Barker, what's the plan for today?"

"For class? Why do you always ask me that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because having the information will enable me to take over the world. 'Cause I'm curious, what else?"

She shook her head, finding no excuse to not tell me. "We're doing the blood-typing lab. You're…" She glanced at her computer. "You're working with Daryl and Darek."

I stuck out my tongue disgustedly.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just, Daryl sucks, of course, and Darek doesn't like me."

"He feels that passionate?"

I rolled my eyes and went to sit down by Vincent and Lucrecia, opening my notebook and titling a page 'Suspects.' "Blood typing lab today—" I began.

Vincent immediately stood up, but Lucrecia grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"…And I'm making a list of possible vampires based on who decides to ditch today…" I finished, sheepishly.

Vincent glared at me, then, less viciously, at Lucrecia. She stopped laughing and looked at him beseechingly. He sighed and obligingly put an arm around her shoulder.

"More blood today, Nix? I'm sure you're going to enjoy yourself," Lucrecia mocked.

I cringed slightly. "Actually… I just really hope Darek shows up. He and Hojo are my group."

"On second thought, that does _not_ sound like fun."

"Well… looking at Darek's blood under the microscope will be, actually, and if I can pit them against each other it'll be a blast. I'll see what I can do…"

Lucrecia looked like she didn't know whether or not to be disapproving as the bell to officially start class rang.

* * *

Hojo glared at me. "Why does Barker always put us in the same group?"

"Because you _actually_ died long ago, Barker is really the demon-prince of this circle of Hell and Vincent and I have been sent as your eternal punishment."

Hojo pondered this. "That would explain a lot."

Darek raised an eyebrow at both of us and I chuckled, turning to read the instructions we'd been provided.

"Looks like we're using… at _least_ one person's blood. Not-it!"

Darek shook his head quickly and Hojo glared at me. I laughed at him.

"Looks like it's your turn to get experimented on," I taunted.

He snatched the instruction sheet from me and began to read it. I looked around to see who had been made the sacrificial lamb in other groups.

Vincent was reluctantly sanitizing his hand under Tarquin's supervision.

Sephiroth seemed to already be beginning to test his blood sample, thanks, in part, to the fact that one of his lab group was Lucrecia.

I happily held up the container with the sterile tool in it. "Do you want to stab yourself, or should I do a favor and do it for you?"

He snatched it from me again.

I rolled my eyes and set to work preparing the tests that we would put the blood through.

"You know," Darek said quietly, "you don't _need_ to taunt him."

"Yes, actually, I do." I told him seriously. "See, it's a psychological condition. Ask your doctor friend."

Darek obviously got the joke, but did not think it was funny.

I turned again to find that Hojo was about to try to draw his own blood, and looked like he was mustering up focus to do so. He started to move the hand with the needle when I interrupted.

"Hey, why are you stabbing yourself!" I chirruped obnoxiously.

"Shut up, Nix."

"Hey, I was just sayin'…"

He glared.

* * *

"You know," I said musingly, "fingertips have some of the most sensitive and dense nerve-endings in the body. It's silly to stab yourself there; better to use another part of the body that's less sensitive."

Hojo was still glaring at me, but Darek nodded reluctantly. "You are right, but the prick, if done correctly, will heal quickly, which is the most important consideration."

I gave up on Darek playing along and turned to Hojo. "So, while you're stabbing yourself, what do you think? Is this Hell?"

He rolled his eyes. "No. But, assuming your statement to be true, how did Doctor Crescent end up here?"

For a split second I wondered at the motivation behind the statement, but stopped to make up a plausible excuse. "She's not here. She's an illusion formed to torment you." I paused as he gave an incredulous look. "I'm not real either. I'm just your worst nightmare."

"As you've mentioned." He said quietly. "So, assuming your theory to be true, I would assume that Valentine is similarly an illusion?"

I laughed. "Naw, Vincent's soul is fused with Satan-spawn. He comes and goes from here as he pleases."

Hojo had cleverly managed to distract me while he pricked his hand, drawing blood and setting the blood sample up to be tested.

I looked at the blood, then I looked at him seriously. "Do you need a band-aid now? I have some in my bag. They're Disney Princess themed."

He started to retort, but fell silent. I couldn't quite tell whether he was blushing or not.

I decided to rub dirt in the wound anyway. "I bet you'd want a Snow White band-aid. You know…" I glanced across him suspiciously. "Knowing you."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Why do you have princess… anything, anyway?"

"'Cause princesses are awesome! Especially Belle. I mean, Snow doesn't have much to give, but…" I paused. "And… Just to see the word 'princess' come out of your mouth. That was pretty priceless."

He was obviously not listening to me at this point. He was looking surreptitiously across the room. Lucrecia looked like she was explaining something fairly technical concerning the lab to Sephiroth, and he looked like he was deliberately seeming uninterested in what she was saying.

I glared at Hojo. "Stop _leering_."

"What?"

I glared disapprovingly at him. "_Lucrecia_."

The gambit of expressions was fascinating, but may have been more intelligible if recorded on high-speed camera.

"You don't _deserve_ her, jackass. She's beautiful and wonderful and you're an ass."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, don't you just seem smitten?"

I glared at him seriously, "Maybe I'll date her, then."

There was an odd pause.

"That is an illogical conclusion."

I looked up at Darek curiously before Hojo could speak again. "Why do you say that?"

"Becoming involved with someone solely to protect them from contact with another person is an inefficient use of energy. Not to mention unlikely to be effective."

I shrugged. "It'd certainly make my point, though… What's your opinion on how she's acting, anyhow, Darek?"

He paused calmly, as though preparing for a recitation. "I have been observing Lucrecia's behavior since the beginning of this year. Her stress levels seem to drastically increase and her mental capacity decreases when in contact with or anticipating contact with Daryl. Logically, she has two choices of action; limit her emotions or limit her contact with Daryl to the maximum degree permissible by obligation."

Hojo stared at Darek like a deer caught unaware in the headlights of an oncoming semi-truck. A very ugly deer.

"Yeah, the former's unlikely," I said darkly. "Thanks for the diagnosis, though, Darek." I then rounded on Hojo. "See? Even Wise Darek thinks you need to back the hell off. Take _that!_"

Darek folded his arms expressionlessly, as though secretly annoyed at how I had twisted his words.

Hojo's eyebrows dropped into a scowl and he turned away from me, focusing on the lab. "Let's just get this over with."

I shrugged at Darek.

After the blood had been exposed to several different chemicals and I had enthusiastically enumerated the perceived awesomeness of the word "flocculate," we had almost finished the required part of the lab. At that point, I remembered something and looked sidewise at Hojo. "Your Tetris battle is supposed to be today."

He rolled his eyes obviously trying to brush the fact off. "So?"

"So, why weren't you there during break?"

He made no response.

"You're not trying to shirk, are you? If you don't come during lunch, I'm sending Yuffie to go get you."

He glared.

I looked at the clock on my phone and sighed. "Yuffie…?"

"Gone, babe." She had left the room before I had registered the door opening.

Just before it closed again, Lucrecia caught it and looked around warily. "Just me," I assured her, slightly more darkly than I had intended.

She nodded. "Nix…"

"You probably shouldn't stay," I said. "Negative influence your psychological prognosis and all that, you know. You should talk to Darek. He's very insightful."

She glared slightly. "Just… make sure nothing bad happens…?"

"Well, it kinda depends on your definition of 'bad.' My money's on a very angry ninja."

Lucrecia looked like she wasn't sure what to think of this and left. The door clicked shut, as though to provide a sound effect for my light-bulb moment. I dashed to the door. "Hey, Lucca! I have an idea!"

* * *

"_Time's about up. Send in the Dog."_ I typed into my phone. I looked up at the screen where Yuffie's bricks were suffering. I hit "_send._"

"_._" … "_._" … "_._" … "_Sent!_"

"_Game Over._" Flashed on Yuffie's side of the screen.

"What?" Yuffie looked furiously at Hojo, who looked at me in fear.

"Run." I said calmly. "Run away…"

To my surprise, he made it to the hallway outside the classroom before Yuffie caught up and grabbed him, smacking him against the locker.

"And never return…"

"You cheated!" She yelled. "C'mon, admit it, you didn't win!"

I looked at my phone's clock again. It had been two minutes since I had sent the text. I was getting a little worried.

"Hey! Yuffie?" Zack's furious voice rang through the corridor. "You _are _that skinny little monkey from Wutai! The one who kept emailing me!"

She rolled her eyes. "Took you long enough to notice, stupid, ugly SOLDIER dude!"

"Lucrecia told me!"

Yuffie abandoned Hojo as Zack lunged at her, apparently taking much less pity than he had when she was a child. "_How did you get my mail address!"_

Hojo raised an eyebrow at me.

I rolled my eyes. "I'd've left you." I informed him coldly, stalking out of the room to go find food and tell Lucrecia that the plan had worked as well as could have been hoped.

* * *

A/N: Special Happy Birthday shout-out to Cloud ("Lightning-rod-head") Strife and Ian McDiarmid! (And I know that Yuffie eventually does tell Zack how she got his mail address.)


End file.
